Kelsier's Tale: The Pits of Hathsin
by UKSpiritStormDragon
Summary: Kelsier the greatest theif in the whole final empire has been caught. Betrayed. To him his own heart has been torn from his chest. All done by the Lord Ruler. Now he has been sent to serve in the one place no person has ever survived. The Pits of Hathsin
1. The Job

Mistborn

The Pits of Hathsin

Chapter 1: The Job

_The one thing I want to see come true Kelsier. I want to see the flowers green and the sky clear like they were before. - Mare_

The Lord Ruler's palace lay there before them, the spires of Kredick Shaw reached into the sky, its jagged spires acted as if they were piercing the ashen covered sky itself. The palace, home to the Lord Ruler himself was the most dangerous place to be, more dangerous than being surrounded by his inquisitors because even surrounded by inquisitors you could escape. It was more dangerous than running in naked into the guards barrack with them expecting you, because at least you knew they could be killed. The Lord Ruler however, he couldn't be killed.

Kelsier's mind was focused on his plan, even as his mind still managed to bring up the terrible memories of the Lord Ruler. The countless deaths he had caused, the unimaginable pain he had brought upon them. Beside him was his wife, Mare, she stood at his side evaluating whether they could succeed, but it wasn't on her, his mind was thinking about tonight. At least not completly. He may not show it but in his mind he had doubts, doubts that this plan could succeed. He couldn't go in with those doubts in mind, it would risk the mission, it could cause the deaths of everyone of them.

The images flashed through his head, Kelsier remembered how many times the Lord Ruler should have died, each time a trap had been sprung on the Lord Ruler, he somehow managed to survive. Kelsier remembered those terrible nights, he had seen a building where the Lord Ruler was in, lit on fire and burned and yet the Lord Ruler walked out, looking almost like a skeleton, his skin charred and burnt and yet his skin just healed and mended, and soon he looked as he had been before he walked into the building, and then he walked away as if nothing had happened. Kelsier remembered the time when the rebel skaa had rose up and hundreds of arrows had pierced the Lord Ruler's body and yet he somehow managed to keep walking, he obliterated the rebellion and Kelsier would never forget the sight of all those bodies, all the skaa who had survived had been publicly executed. Their heads had been severed from their necks in front of the whole population of Luthadel.

"Kelsier." Mare called his name in her hushed voice, that voice that Kelsier had grown to love. "It's time."

They were thieves, the greatest thieves in all of the Final Empire, and here in Luthadel, they were going to make their mark. They're goal was the Lord Ruler's own treasury, and inside was something that no one had ever laid eyes on. It was a job no theif had ever attempted till this day, but it was dangerous. Far more dangerous then any other job the two of them could imagine.

Kelsier nodded once to her, his will and focus were set, and his mind was set on this job. He couldn't turn back now, if he did he would have to live with the cruel sensation of not knowing what was in that room. He shifted his head to signal Redd, their smoker. Now was the best time for it to be done, and after months of planning it was time to see what the Lord Ruler had hidden inside that room. He nodded once, his early fear and shyness had dissapeared, in place stood a man Kelsier felt he could trust. It was the first time he had been needed before now and he wouldn't let them down.

They moved at once, moving quietly with years of practice, Kelsier moved from the rooftop from where he stood, Mare right behind him and Redd following after her. They climbed down the side of the building swiftly, not wanting to draw unwanted eyes to them. As soon as they reached the ground, Mare took the lead, she was their tineye, an allomancer who could burn tin which enhanced all of their internal senses allowing them to be more aware of their surroundings. Redd covered her with his coppercloud, he was the smoker, he burned copper to hide the allomantic pulses that Mare gave off as she burned tin, making them invisible to seekers. It kept them hidden and as long as Redd had his copper on, the thieves were able to have Mare's senses enhanced and the Inquisitors wouldn't be able to detect it. The thieves kept to the shadows, the mists were out now, sweeping the streets but the thieves were used to working at night with the mists. It was common superstition to the Skaa that the mists stole your soul, but only fools believe those tales.

The entrance to Kredick Shaw was ahead, only two guards were posted on duty and Kelsier motioned for the rest of them to stay back while he moved to deal with them. _Nobleman! _That was the only word that came to Kelsier's mind as he walked towards them and then suddenly he commanded his legs to wobble, and he began to trip over his feet, stumbling towards the guards as if he was drunk.

The first guard was armed with a short spear, and his armour was put on loosely and carelessly and so there were many exposed parts showing. The guard moved to block Kelsier, his hand going towards him. Kelsier felt the guard grab his cloak with one hand, pulling him towards the guard; the man took one look at Kelsier before noticing what he was.

"Skaa!" the guard spat, as if the very word was distasteful.

Kelsier's only response was the same words that had been in his mind. "Nobleman." His voice was a whisper but the word ended as his right hand swiftly pulled one of his daggers out of its sheath from his belt and plunged it into the guard's abdomen, the guard let a short gasp as the blade sunk in and blood began to run from the wound.

The guard saw the motion and cursed as he was lifting his own short spear, but Kelsier moved quicker, years on the streets taught him to be quick on his feet and never stay in the same place. Kelsier moved, one arm grabbed the wounded guard's neck and Kelsier pulled him towards him, using him as a shield, ripping his dagger out of the guard and than tossing it at the other guard.

The weapon hit the guards armour, bouncing off it uselessly, and Kelsier quickly cursed for not looking for this guard's weakness. It was too late to now, the guard moved forward and Kelsier could feel the wounded guard dying and dropping and soon it would take more energy than Kelsier could spare to keep the man up, and so Kelsier did the next thing that came to his mind, he threw the guard.

A swift push, and the wounded guard stumbled towards his partner, but he was ready for this, the guard sidestepped and let his fallen companion move beside him, stumbling and falling dead to the ground. Then the guard took his spear and swiped at Kelsier, a quick strike that Kelsier was forced to dodge. The metal point swiped through empty air as Kelsier moved, his hands were drawing more of his knives but then the guard suddenly dropper his spear and reached out with both hands taking hold of Kelsier and throwing him against the walls of the Lord Ruler's palace. The impact made Kelsier drop his knives, the power it had taken for that man to throw him so swiftly and easily could only mean one thing. Pewterarm. Pewterarms or Thugs were allomancers who burned pewter and enhanced all their physical abilities, it was the alloy of tin and Kelsier knew that taking on a thug was far more dangerous. Something no normal man could ever accomplish alone. But Kelsier wasn't normal.

The guard moved to grab Kelsier again, and if he succeeded Kelsier wouldn't be able to win the fight. He moved, trying in vain to escape the grasping hands that locked onto his neck, and struggle as he might, Kelsier wasn't going to escape. A soft sound whispered through the air and Kelsier heard the thug gasp out a tiny bit, his grip relaxing the tiniest bit but it was the tiniest bit that mattered. Kelsier moved, breaking free of the thugs grasp only to see a knife in the guards back as he turned to face his new attacker. Mare. Kelsier's heart thudded as he saw the guard close on Mare, she was a good fighter but like Kelsier, she wasn't a pewterarm, and it would be worse for her. With her tin on, Mare would feel more pain then any normal person would, the negative effect of Tin. Still she tried and fought, her arms whipped around, each one hitting different areas on the guard's body, but only few of them made him grunt. Kelsier looked around and spotted his knives lying on the ground. He ran to them, grabbing one in each hand, and crept up behind the guard, who had just caught one of Mare's fists and was smiling.

_Smile after this!_ Kelsier's knives rammed down into the guard's back, plunging deep in and the guard struggled to stay standing, but slowly he was falling. Mare pulled her hand free from his grasp and punched him once in his face, colliding with his nose and he fell. Kelsier removed his daggers from the guard's back and replaced them in their sheaths, and then he moved to pick up the last one lying where the second guard had been positioned. The fight had not lasted long but the adrenaline in Kelsier's body had made it seem so much longer.

Redd appeared at that moment, his voice silent. "Obligators." He said. Kelsier quickly forgot about catching his breath, ignoring the pain in his back and took hold of Mare and they all rushed inside, hoping that the Obligators were not coming here, and would not see the downed guards.

The inside corridor was clean, no soot or ash stained the marble floor. Kelsier looked around as they moved through the palace; he knew his way around by now since he had been here a few times before now, the prints that he had seen of the palace also allowed their group quick access through palace, occasionally allowing small groups of people to pass. They moved quietly, carefully, Mare always on the lookout to keep them out of sight. It wasn't long before they came to the door, the lone door at the end of a huge dome shaped circular room, columns surrounded the room, that Kelsier let out a sigh of relief. Ahead of them was the Lord Ruler's treasury, their goal. Mare smiled beside him, she was happy too, and she had a right to be. Redd was right behind them not believing that they would actually be able to get inside the Lord Ruler's treasury and if possible rob the Lord Ruler himself. It was a dream, a dream for Kelsier and for Mare. But also it was a dream for every skaa theif.

"Are you ready for this Kelsier?" Mare asked with a smile.

Kelsier almost laughed. "Ready? Shall we my beautiful thief?" He waved one hand towards the door.

Mare kissed him on the cheek, before taking his hand in hers and raising it towards the door. "Together." She whispered in his ear before turning to face the door.

Together the walked forward. Kelsier's hand approched the door handle. Mare stood to his right and Redd on his other side. This was their moment. Mare's smiled faded quickly, her eyes showed confusion and Kelsier only had a moment to wonder why as he pulled open the door. Inside stood two figures, waiting. One was an averaged sized nobleman, he had the tattoos of the Canton of Resource around his eyes, the other one was a tall bald figure, where his eyes should have been were two metal spikes, driven point first through his eye sockets. _Steel Inquisitor!_ The one thing no one hoped to ever meet, the unnatural creatures that served the Lord Ruler. They were so powerful that it was also said that there were only twelve of them in existence.

"Surprise." The inquisitor said.

Kelsier felt himself back up from the the creature as it smiled, he spun his head the room, looking towards their escape route as figures began to move from behind the columns. Four more figures stepped forward, each one holding a pair of obsidian axes, blocking off their escape and surrounding them. Four more Steel Inquisitors which guaranteed Kelsier the fact that he was going to die.

The lead inquisitor pointed at Redd and spoke to the obligator, "Kill him Yomen. The Lord Ruler only wants them the others."

The man bowed his head as if he had been commanded by his god and moved forward approaching Redd. Redd quickly drew his own dagger. He was no fighter and his face filled with horror and despair as he confronted his fate. Redd slashed out at the obligator the dagger swiping towards the man, and yet the obligator, Yomen moved out of the way easily as if knowing the attack was coming, Again Redd slashed out and again Yomen avoided it and on the next strike, Yomen took hold of the dagger, catching it mid-swing and disarmed Redd, taking the blade and thrusting it to the right of Redd's neck. Redd had been anticipating the strike but not direction had shifted to his left right into the path of the dagger which embedded itself into his neck.

"Mistborn." Kelsier said, only a mistborn could have done that, predicted exactly where Redd would go. The obligator was burning atium, the most expensive and most powerful of all the allomantic metals, it allowed the user the ability to see into the future and their mind adjusted so that this new power would be used to the maximum effect.

"That's better, copper was always an annoyance." One of the Inquisitors said roughly.

Kelsier knew his turn was up but it didn't mean he couldn't struggle. The inquisitor looked at him and Mare and uttered the words, "Take them." Kelsier tried to move, his hands moved to his daggers but he was caught by rough hands first. He looked over to see Mare struggling to get away, and Kelsier desperatly hoped she would. This was his plan, she shouldn't be the one to pay as well. Mare continued to struggle, dodging the inquisitor's hands but there was no way to escape the circle of inquisitors. Still she struggled and then the inquisitor nearest to her yelled into her ear, no words at all just a sound. The sound would have stunned Kelsier, it did worse for Mare. She dropped to her knees her hands going to her ears as she gasped in pain as the inquisitors grabbed her. More rough hands grabbed Kelsier and Mare and they were carried through the palace up staircases and through corridors, until they finally came to a large room, a throne sat at the end of it on a small dias with stairs leading up to it and it was here Kelsier and Mare had their arms bound in chains. Kelsier knew this place well, he'd been here many times. This was the Lord Ruler's throne room. It was well lit, almost as if it was expected to have an audiance in it.

The doors at one end of the room opened shortly after, and a tall man stepped forward. He was dressed in dark pure black clothing, metal rings shone on his fingers and the metal bracelets around his arms seemed to feel alive. Metal was a sign of his power and he wore a it with pride. A soothing pressure hit Kelsier full on and everything he felt every emotion he felt faded away, only to be replaced by depression and hopelessness. This was the power of the Lord Ruler, and standing in front of Kelsier, was the Silver of Infinity himself, as young and healthy as he had looked for the past thousand years. Never aging, never changing. He looked like he had only been waiting, knowing that they would soon be in his grasp.

The Lord Ruler sat down on his throne, he looked at Kelsier, his eyes lay on the thief before they shifted to Mare and he smiled."Thank you Mare, your part helped a great deal in Kelsier's capture. Without you I would not have known exactly where Kelsier was. For that I must thank you, you have saved me quiet a bit of trouble." His voice hit Kelsier like a hammer hit an anvil; his voice was genuinely grateful and truthful.

Kelsier glanced over at Mare, his life had shattered. Mare had betrayed him. She looked back at him, an attempt at confusion in her eyes. "Kelsier, I didn't…." her voice trailed off as Kelsier turned away from her, his eyes shut trying to control his agony.

"It's taken much time Kelsier." The Lord Ruler continued. "Finally you are here, in front of me. You've caused me enough trouble, caused the nobility whom I granted their places too myself trouble, and you have been an annoyance for many years.

Kelsier looked up at the Lord Ruler trying to bring his courage back, anything to show defiance to the Lord Ruler. "Anything you do to me, will be nothing compared to what I feel. Do your worst, you can't cause me anymore pain then what I feel right now. Kill me, and end it."

"Kill you?" The Lord Ruler scoffed at the idea. "No my dear thief. You have stolen a great deal in your time. Death is simply not something I would grant someone who doesn't deserve it."

Kelsier stayed silent, he couldn't talk, respond to anything the Lord Ruler said.

"You Kelsier are about to experience agony, torment, death." The Lord Ruler said, each word he enforced with a hammer of despair upon Kelsier. "You will die, be sure of that. But first you will be broken, thorougly. You will beg, you will learn your place as a skaa. You will serve in the Pits of Hathsin."

Kelsier hung his head, not able to bear the weight of it any longer. _The Pits of Hathsin, _the place where people were sent to die. It was a slave camp, prisoners were sent there for many different acts, acts that made them suffer. Acts that made them die. Kelsier knew he was defeated he would have resisted still but the fight was gone from him, everything he had once had, had been ripped from him. He only barely heard the Lord Ruler's final words addressed to him. "Take him, I wish to speak to Mare…alone." Those final words, the last thing he heard as he was grabbed and taken away, dragged away to serve his time in the pits.


	2. Week 1: The Pits of Hathsin

Week 1: The Pits of Hathsin.

"_Kelsier, the greatest thief ever to live in all of the Final Empire, the only thief who was able to steal my heart." _- Mare

The Pits of Hathsin, the place where stories told of those who were sent to go where they could never come back from. None could survive it, everyone always tried and to everyone's knowledge everyone has always died. It didn't matter if you were loyal, strong, unbreakable, feared among everyone else. It didn't matter if torture by an inquisitor was merely child's play to you. If there was something the Pits excelled at. It was breaking and killing you. This was the place where legends died and tormentors were victorious, the place where Kelsier himself now found to be quite different then he imagined.

Kelsier barely remembered the past events. His guards had blindfolded, chained and knocked him unconscious for the journey. He didn't know who held him now but when he had left he had been in the hands of the obligator that had been called Yomen. He had bound Kelsier and tossed him in a prison crate with what seemed to be full with people and then he had been taken from there, unable to see or hear where they were going. It had been days, maybe weeks since that day. At a certain point of day the guards would feed him and let him relieve themselves before being forced back into the cramped cage. He always had the blindfold on, and the chains never came off.

Kelsier awoke as he felt the cage slowl to a stop. He heard the crate door open, the bolt unlatch and the door swing open, the screeching sound of worn out iron that had yet to be oiled again made Kelsier shutter, the piercing sound itself however reminded Kelsier of what was happening. Rough hands grabbed his body and shook him; a deep male voice came with it. "Get up! Nap times over!" they shook him roughly and then grabbed him by his worn out shirt and tossed him from the crate onto the rough ground. Kelsier's body hit the floor and rolled for a moment across it and then came to a stop. Another pair of hands grabbed him and pulled him off the ground and shoved him against a wall, a quiet moan issued from the direction Kelsier had just been in as he heard something else hit the ground. The hands moved to the back of head and Kelsier felt the person untie his blindfold, the thick piece of cloth that had covered his eyes for so long finally came off and even the low light of the sun that got through the ash covered sky blinded him. Kelsier forced his eyes shut, and slowly opened them, allowing them to readjust to the light of day. His bound hands were freed from the iron chains that held him, and soon the bindings around his legs came off. Then Kelsier felt something get attached to one of his boots, the odd distinctive snap of metal clasping together.

Finally, Kelsier was able to open his eyes to view the world again, and then the man who had been supporting him while he removed his bindings released him and Kelsier felt his legs go weak and give, collapsing and falling to the ground, his arms, by instinct went out to support him but they were too weak as well and Kelsier's face when straight into the ash, apart of it got into his mouth and Kelsier coughed, wheezing as he tried to clear his windpipe. As Kelsier waited for his strength to build back up he saw the other prisoners being treated the same way he had. There were almost a dozen guards around them and one of them was just throwing the prisoners outside of the cart like they were lightweight pieces of trash. Others were just undoing all of the prisoner's bindings and soon Kelsier forgot about them. He looked down at his leg, a metal ring was fastented around it. _Why would they just put metal bracelets on us._ He soon forgot about the band around his leg and instead focused his attention to the things that held him here.

Four guard towers, filled with archers were positioned around them; large gates the only ways out on either side of him, including the way out to which Kelsier could see was just a barren field filled with ash. On the other side, the place where Kelsier guessed they were going was a large building that looked to be made from stone and it had guards going in and out of it each of them armed with either a spear or a sword and shield, each wearing armor that was worn and rusty. On it was the crest of what seemed to resemble House Venture but it was to faded and cracked apart to confirm it.

The last of the prisoners were freed, and then the gate leading to the stone building opened up, and the prisoners were marched through, a few of the prisoners decided that freedom was worth the chance of dying because as soon as most of the prisoners were through and only two guards remained where they had been, four of the prisoners broke and ran, the two guards just shifted their weapons, one carried a long sword and the other had a spear. The first prisoner to reach them was impaled by the spear guard and tossed aside, the second was decapitated by the guard with the sword, the third and fourth prisoners ran right by them and tried to climb over the gate. It didn't take long before the soft _twang_ of knocked arrows being released from bows was heard, and four arrows embedded themselves into the fleeing prisoners. They fell from where they had been trying to climb the gate and slumped to the ground. They didn't even twitch as they lay there. Dead. Forgotten.

_Is this how I'll end up in the end. One desperate attempt at freedom? A low chance of survival to just get away. _Kelsier shook his head he had to stop the thoughts from emerging the doubts from clinging hold, but he had lost everything so what point did he have to keep on living; the answer came to him immediately. _Mare_. Her image appeared in his mind, a sight he had memorized so long ago of the woman on the rooftop overlooking the city. He shook his head trying to get rid of the name, the image, to just banish it from his head, she had betrayed him so what right did she have for him to keep on living. _Mare._ The image faded but the name stayed in his mind and Kelsier carried on.

They were taken inside of the building, guards pushed them through the hallway into a giant room with a doomed shape roof, where they were told to stand at the side and wait. At the other side of the room, there was a desk and a man sitting behind it, he had the distinctive tattoos of an obligator around his eyes and he was talking to a tall figure cloaked in black, its hood up covering its features. The figures were arguing and it seemed like the obligator was afraid. He was being stubborn and pointing furiously at some documents that were on the table. Kelsier only knew of one thing that might be able to cause such fear in an inquisitor in this place of all places. One thing that can do that and is tall and dressed as the figure in black was. One guess was all it took and before Kelsier had a chance to say the words, the figure turned to face them, the obligator defeated had gone back to his work and the steel spikes that protruded from the figure's eyes looked straight at them.

"Inquisitor," one of the prisoners said, everyone around them who had already begun to talk amongst each other had silenced in less then a heartbeat since the word had been spoken. Everyone had been taught to fear inquisitors, the creatures who were invincible, unbeatable and could not be killed.

A few prisoners in the line began to talk again, about escaping, "better to take our chances with the guards then with an inquisitor." One said.

Kelsier had to strain his ears to hear them as well as he could, they were speaking so low and none of the guards could hear them, not even the inquisitor who was across the room.

"Inquisitor's are unbeatable, at least taking on a few guards means we can still escape. But we have to do it now."

"If we run now, we can make it out the door by the time the Inquisitor gets here."

They debated and finally three of the prisoners agreed to run, inquisitors create fear in men and the prisoners were no different. They began to stir and finally the Inquisitor began to walk towards them, it spoke, its voice carried towards them but it was directed at the men who were about to run.

"Running is useless, you would all be dead before you reach the door." The Inquisitor's voice was enough however to scare the men into running, and they ran.

They didn't get three steps till they were suddenly pulled by an unseen force towards the Inquisitor, who just smiled as they screamed. It grabbed the first two prisoners by their shirts and smashed them into the ground, the stone flooring broke, dust rose from the shattered tiles, and the prisoners lay on the ground limp while the Inquisitor snatched the last prisoner from the air and starred at him. The man squirmed, his hands fevourishly trying to loosen the inquisitors grip on him. The creature just smiled as the man tried to escape, it was like a game to the creature, except it was a game where the prisoner had already lost. Failing to escape the man tried swinging his fist at the Inquisitor, but before he had raised his hand the inquisitor just tossed him into the air, and then formed its hand so it resembled a spear and struck out as the man came back down. The Inquisitor's hand smashed into the man's chest and ripped through, the man's blood landed on the creature's face and it only laughed, enjoying the slaughter. The creatures joy was only visible for a moment but it was enough to scare the prisoners into complete submission. The Inquisitor looked back at them, examining them as he removed the dead man's body from his hand and tossed it aside like a used tissue.

Kelsier looked at the rest of the prisoners, there were about sixteen of them left, he counted, and they all looked like they had given up. _Who wouldn't after all, no one can beat an Inquisitor._

"Anyone else?" The Inquisitor asked, knowing full well the answer it was going to get was only silence.

No one responded. "Pity." The Inquisitor said as he called forth one of the guards with wave of his hand. "I'm checking for mistings, normally I would leave them to rot here but we need a tineyes, and the Lord Ruler has decided to give some of these fools a chance at redemption. Separate them and check them."

The guards split up and began moving the prisoners in different directions, a rough looking man who looked like he was in his mid-thirties was the guard who came for Kelsier. "Let's move." He said, pushing Kelsier towards one of the doors that led from the room.

They left the large room and made their way through the halls of the building; Kelsier just realized how large the structure must be as he was moving, passing doorways and going through halls. He soon came to one room where he was pushed inside, the room held two more guards and a table with some vials on it. The guard looked at Kelsier and motioned for one of the guards, one of them stepped forward with a vial and gave it to Kelsier and said, "Drink it."

Kelsier looked at the vial in his hand and back at the guard wondering for a moment if he should resist, probably try and fight his way out. He should be able to take two surprised guards. His brief hesitation however just caused one of the guards to grab him by the back of his head, clasping onto his hair and pulling his head back. With his other hand the guard wrenched open Kelsier's mouth. The other guard took the vial from Kelsier's hand and poured the solution down his throat. It tasked like a bad cheap form of alcohol before with other various bits of other things mixed in. The guard finally released him, shoving him back before turning to face his partner. The second guard shook his head and the first guard asked, "How do you know?"

"They don't call us detectors for nothing." The second guard responded. "Unless he's burning it I don't sense anything."

"Should we get a seeker?" The first guard asked.

The second guard shook his head.

The guard who had brought him grabbed him by his arm and pulled him out of the room, and brought him through hallways and doors, constantly feeling a need to prove his power by shoving Kelsier head every few steps until finally Kelsier came to one final small room with a door at the end and a table at the side with another guard sitting on the opposite side, piles of papers littered the desk and a storage box was positioned at the wall beside the man. By the table were two more armed guards however they were more asleep then awake. The guard then proceeded to pad him down, checking for weaponry. Kelsier almost laughed.

"You don't think they would have checked me when they got me?" Kelsier felt the urge to say. A sharp pain echoed through his back as the guard hit him from behind with his arm. Kelsier managed to remain upright, only stumbling slightly.

The guard checking him nodded once before turning and departing. The guard at the table looked up at Kelsier and asked for his name. He looked to be in his late years, balding hair, greying bits freckled his blond hair.

Kelsier felt the urge to spit on the guard but he wasn't feeling lucky at the moment. Instead he just spoke his name.

"Last name." the guard asked.

This time Kelsier didn't respond.

"Last name." The guard asked again.

"A skaa doesn't have a last name." Kelsier replied almost distantly. One of the last words his father ever spoke to him ringed through his head as a distant voice. _A skaa doesn't have a name. A house. A life._

"Just give me your last name." The guard asked, the agitation in his voice was faint but it was there.

An idea came to Kelsier and quickly he said, "Venture."

"Soldier." The guard said with a sigh.

The soldier closest to Kelsier was armed with a spear, raised the butt end of the weapon up and nailed Kelsier in the abdomen. Kelsier grunted in pain as he doubled over.

"What's the matter." Kelsier croaked, it hurt more then he had thought. "Can't take a joke."

The guard at the table motioned again and the spear guard raised his butt again. This time Kelsier caught the butt end of the weapon in his hands, the guard seemed confused. "It would be helpful if you didn't do that again." Kelsier simply said.

Kelsier was greeted with a blow to the face from the second guard, causing him to fall to the ground. His back hit the hard floor and Kelsier fought the pain. One of the guards drew a knife and knelt down beside Kelsier positioning the blade against his neck. The guard a the table looked at Kelsier as he spoke. "We can do this two ways. I'm sure you know the options."

_Kill them! _Kelsier wanted to fight, his blood pounded. _Resist them. _It may be futile but he could still fight, resist them. Not give them what they wanted. _Die! _The suddeness of the word came to mind so sharply Kelsier pondered over the thought. Did he want to die that badly. He gazed at the blade held against his neck. Was he ready to die. There was nothing left for him here, not now. _Everything...but Mare. _Kelsier sighed, he had given up the name that belonged to him, the family name that was tainted with nobleman blood, his mother, a skaa women pretending to be a noblewomen had died at noblemen hands and the name that Kelsier had once proudly carried was a stain on his life, a taint that he couldn't remove and so he tried to banish it as best he could. His heart began to calm down as he realized he had made his choice.

"This is the last time." The guard asked.

"Tristing." Kelsier responded coldly, looking up at the man's face as he spoke the word with such hatred in his voice. His voice barely made the word audible but it carried towards the guard. Lord Tristing was a minor nobleman who had been able to provide a good education for Kelsier and his brother Marsh, but when his obligator found out that his mother was a skaa, he murdered her on the spot; Tristing accepted it, believing that skaa were creatures that have to learn that they shouldn't rise above themselves. It was then Lord Tristing had tried to kill him and his brother. Kelsier had barely survived the encounter and niether him or his brother left unscarred.

The guard wrote it down not bothering to question the name. Whether it was because he believed him or just didn't care didn't matter. The guards by his side left him to stand up on his own. "You're in L62." The guard at the table said writing down the tent number and showing it to Kelsier. He motioned for the guards and Kelsier felt a hand shove him forward from behind.

Kelsier opened the door, it slid open giving off a soft creeking sound. He walked outside, standing on a platform with staires leading down onto the ashen covered ground. He was on the other side of the building, ahead of him was a valley filled with a never ending line of rows and columns, each of them lined with tents as far as Kelsier could see; each row and each tent was marked. There was another shove from behind and Kelsier fell forward, his hands instinctively going out in front of him. He fell down the staires, his hands landing on the wooden staires as he flew over them, rolling down the stairs until he landed face first in the ash at the bottom.

Slowly Kelsier rose to his feet, behind him he heard the sound of a door being shut.

Slowly Kelsier took his first step forward without someone hovering over him, or him being chained for who knows how long. His feet left marks in the ashen ground, and he looked at the tents as he passed by them. They were all made out of some type of wood with cloth on the outside, and it didn't look like it would stand in a storm, but then that's the effort the guards probably went to, to give the people who were sent here the type of shelter that fitted their station.

He passed row on row of tents, before finally coming to the L line of tents and then he began walking down it. On his way another person stepped up beside him, a young man with dark blond hair, probably in his twenties if not earlier. Red blood streaked from his arms, on top of white scars. There were a few cuts on his face as well, one on his cheek and another on his forehead, he looked tired however in his right hand he carried a small object clutched tightly in what looked like a deathly grip. He took one look at Kelsier and then a sharp glance around him before returning his gaze to Kelsier.

"Hey." The man said, his voice carrierd the carried the weariness that Kelsier expected, but also something else, uneasiness perhaps, and a bit of fear.

"Hello." Kelsier replied just as simply, if this man had reason to be scared of him then Kelsier wasn't about to let down his own guard.

"New here?"

"Yeah."

"Tristan."

"Kelsier."

Kelsier jumped as something grabbed his foot, the movement caused Tristan to clutch the object in his hand tightly to his chest and turn spin to face Kelsier.

Kelsier looked down and saw a man lying on the ground holding tightly onto Kelsier boots. He was battered and bruised, blood ran from his head, his clothes were torn and he seemed to be missing some hair in some spots.

"Please." The man wheezed, "help me."

He reached one of his hands up towards Tristan in a desperate plea. Behind the man Kelsier could hear the sound of approching footsteps. Tristan seemed to become more anxious and he quickly kicked the man's hand. The man cried in pain and pulled his hand back, still keeping one hold on Kelsier's boot. The footsteps grew louder and two men appeared from behind the tents. They saw the man and each of them took hold of the man's legs and pulled.

"No!" He cried as he lost his grip on Kelsier's boot and was pulled away into the mass of tents. Kelsier tensed to go after them but Tristan stopped him.

"He's already dead." He said and continued walking, however considerably faster.

Kelsier could feel Tristan relax a bit as he got farther away from the scuffle that had just happened, although his grip on the small object in his hand hadn't weakened.

"What's in you hand?" Kelsier asked, innocently.

Tristan's head whipped over to look at Kelsier, fear almost showing on his face as his hands closed together against his body as if he was protecting it. "Nothing." he said quickly and distanced himself from Kelsier.

Kelsier's curiosity rose but he didn't have much time to ponder on what the object was when he saw something out of the corner of his eye reaching for Tristan.

"Tristan behind you!" Kelsier shouted, immediately Tristan grasped the object tightly and dived forward, tucking his head in for a roll. Kelsier turned around not wanting to be caught with his back to whatever was reaching for Tristan, and he faced a very tall muscular man, dark hair covered his head and a large beard on his face and he looked very angry. The man grabbed Kelsier by his neck lifting him off the ground, choking Kelsier with arms that were similarily cut like Tristan's. Tristan however seeing his newfound friend in danger charged forward, raising his knee into the tall man's stomach, causing him to gasp a bit which allowed Kelsier to break the man's grip on him and get free, dropping to the ground prepared to fight off this enemy.

Before either of them could move however another person joined in. A smaller figure, walking up behind the tall man. Kelsier began to worry, it would be a hard fight taking on one strong man without another to back him up. The newcomer was now behind the tall man, almost up to his shoulders and Kelsier gasped in amazment as the newcomer simply lept into the air, arms wrapped around the big man's neck and swing his legs along with his body so his legs could take hold of the strong man's neck and then with his fists, the newcomer punched the man in his abdomen a few time before managing to pull the man down with his legs and toss him onto the ground.

"Thanks Alex." Tristan called out to the newcomer. The figure stood up, waving a hand as he looked at the tall man lying on the ground. Tristan turned to face Kelsier, "This usually happens in the pits, this guy must have been desperate." However it seemed to Kelsier that Tristan was almost trying to find a need to explain the behaviour of the man.

"This always happens?" Kelsier asked.

"At times, now there's no point in waiting for more, so I'll see you later." Tristan said before he broke into a run in the direction of the stone building. Alex walked up towards Kelsier, he came up to Kelsier's eyes up close. Dark black hair covered his head and ran down to his shoulders covering his dark skin. He was short but Kelsier easily knew that size could be very deceiving. The recent demonstration also provided strong evidence that this man could probably hold his own against Kelsier.

"Alex." Alex said, holding out a hand.

"Kelsier." Kelsier replied, shaking it.

"What tent you in?" Alex asked.

"L62"

"So am I. Here follow me."

They both began to walk towards their tent, Alex leading the way since he knew where he was going.

"Do you know what happened back there." Alex asked, "Kar never comes over here. Hell Kar knows Tristan's my brother."

"You two are brothers?" Kelsier asked stunned.

"Yeah I know." Alex replied. "Doesn't look like it but it's there. So you know anything."

"No, nothing." Kelsier responded truthfully.

"So what are you here for?" Alex asked he didn't display the same fear of anxiousness Tristan had earlier.

"Trying to steal from the Lord Ruler." Kelsier replied, as if it was just a hobby.

Alex looked at him in surprise and asked, "Really, that's a first. Who did you think you were, Kelsier the thief?"

"Yep." Kelsier replied.

"Hold on," Alex asked curiously, "You're saying you're Kelsier. _The _Kelsier, the skaa thief."

"Nice to know I have fans inside this place too." Kelsier answered.

Alex was amazed, Kelsier, a legend in front of him. And then their tent appeared, L62, and Alex motioned Kelsier inside. There was ash and soot inside as well, covering the ground. The tent wasn't very large however it held six palettes, each with covers, no one else was there and Alex simply walked over to one and lay down on it. He motioned to the one across from his and said, "That's yours."

Kelsier moved towards it, and sat down, it wasn't comfortable and Kelsier was sure it wasn't going to get any better.

"So what do we do here?" Kelsier asked.

Alex glanced over at him, thinking for a moment before asking, "You haven't gone in yet, have you."

"Where?"

"The Pits."

"No,"

Kelsier began to wonder, confused and then Alex made it clear.

"This is the last day before the week is done; if you don't get a geode from inside the pits then you're dead."

"What!" Kelsier rose quickly from his palette.

Alex got up to, "Follow me quick." He said and ran, Kelsier ran right behind him. They ran as fast as they could, through the rows of tents until finally coming to a large opening. Guards stood there, lots of them, obligators as well and some sort of creature.

The creature had the deformed parts of a many types of animals, it had six arms, all of them muscular, a tail that seemed to be very sharp, wings and a head that consisted of it being part human, part wolf, however it looked more wolf then human. Alex came up beside him and said, "The Creature of Hathsin. It feasts on our souls, like the mists."

Kelsier looked at him, the mists had never scared him and so he replied, "I'm a thief, if I lose my soul, I'll just steal it back."

A rare smile came to Alex's face but it disappeared quickly, "Hurry." He pointed to the middle of the clearing and Kelsier looked, cracks sprouted from the ground, along the earth, large cracks that spread throughout the whole clearing as far as Kelsier could see. People were going in and out, the one's coming out were all bleeding and the one's going in, looked like the Lord Ruler himself was in those cracks.

"You have to go down and search for these small types of object, that are mostly in the shape of a prism or crystal. They are usually found inside small pockets, the only entrance however is a ring of sharp teeth that you have to get your hand through." Alex explained. "Pull the object free and get back up or you're going to die."

"Charming." Kelsier replied. He looked back at Alex. The man was serious and Kelsier ran towards the cracks, the guards there looked at him but did nothing to stop him, and Kelsier soon came to one of the large cracks. It wasn't very big but Kelsier was sure he would be able to fit. Looking down however he just saw an endless amount of rocks and cracks inside, however he just took a deep breath. He could do it and standing around wasn't going to help him.

He took one last look at Alex who was waiting for him and Kelsier sat down on the ground and slowly put his legs into the hole and began lowering himself down, using the small breaks in the wall to steady himself and keep him from plummeting down. Kelsier continued down now, twisting his body in different directions so he could fit through and soon he was completely inside.

Kelsier moved slowly, Alex had said about there being cracks in the walls where he could find the geodes. His hands brushed the walls, and soon his hand came to one of the openings and he adjusted himself so he could fit his hand inside. The jagged rocks on the inside of the opening cut his arm as Kelsier forced his arm inside, pain burst in him, and Kelsier just realized why Tristan's arms were bleeding so badly. The rocks cut deep into his arm, and yet Kelsier continued onward, until he came to some sort of resistance. His hand was blocked by something, like a small hole. Smaller then the opening that he already had. He probed the hole and gasped out loud as his fingers brushed the ring of the hole. It was made from the tips of some type of sharp rock and the only way to get his arm through was to force it through. Alex wasn't kidding when he said a ring of sharp teeth. Kelser let out a soft prayer to whatever gods Sazed had tried to convince him of and put all his weight and strength in his arm as he slammed it forward into the small hole. The sharp edges cut through his arm so deeply and so painfully, Kelsier couldn't stifle the scream that erupted from him. When the pain started to die down to a more bearable level, Kelsier opened and stretched his hand out, moving his fingers trying to feel for the geode. His fingers moved, brushing against the small opening that his hand was in, rocks cutting them but still he didn't stop, however it was only after a few minutes Kelsier finally felt something, a small object that felt like a flower and Kelsier searched the center of it, nothing. His hope had risen at the moment he had felt the flower-like object and he wasn't giving up. He reached out and tried grabbing hold of the object and pulled, it didn't budge and Kelsier felt his chances die, he knew that what he was searching for wasn't in this section so he closed his hand and began to withdraw his arm, the jagged rocks cutting open his arm in different places as Kelsier kept adjusting his arm so it wouldn't get stuck.

As soon as Kelsier had gotten his arm free he looked at it, what he could see in the dim light that reached into the pits was only blood but he couldn't stop now. Kelsier continued on down, bit by bit, some of the rocks cut into his back, some into his legs and still he didn't stop. This was just another challenge; Kelsier had always overcome challenges, from his first day walking to escaping from his father and to becoming the greatest thief. He wouldn't give up.

Kelsier felt another opening and this time he used his other arm, moving himself so that he could fit it in. The rocks cut into his arm again, and Kelsier felt like the pain would kill him, each rock cut him open and bled him, and yet Kelsier carried on, another test he kept reminding himself. His arm met the similiar resistance Kelsier had found in the last hole, the sharp ring of points and he cursed out loud. He breathed in deeply before ramming his arm through the whole, once again unable to surpress teh scream that came from his body. Finally he reached the other end and he opened his hand and begun searching around, fingers brushing the inside of the small opening but still finding nothing. It wasn't long till his finger's brushed up against the flowerlike object, empty. _Another attempt failed. _Kelsier slowly began to withdraw his hand, trying to avoid slicing open his arm but there were sharp rocks everywhere and so they still cut him either way her turned.

As soon as Kelsier; got his arm free he felt something hit his left arm and used his right hand to check. Big mistake. Kelsier felt the rock beneath his feet give way and crumble and suddenly Kelsier was falling, his feet scraping against the walls trying to hold on, rocks breaking apart beneath him, his hands trying desperately to grab hold of something, the rocks still biting into his body, his arms being cut, Kelsier's only hope of survival fading away, plummeting as fast as he was falling, until finally his legs hit a stable rock and his arms managed to get hold of the rocks again and he came to a stop.

Kelsier's breathing was coming fast and he tried to calm himself, his heart was pounding so loudly it was as if it was the only thing he could hear. His arms slowly checking the area around him, another opening and Kelsier took a deep breath before putting his right arm in. The rocks cut into him again, Kelsier could feel his blood run and it was a wonder he hadn't fainted yet, still he kept on going, determined not to give up, his arm breaking through to the other side and his hand searched around. Kelsier found the flower like object and he began to move his hand towards the center, and then his fingers hit something. It was what Kelsier was guessing was the center of the object, was another small object, almost shaped like a small crystal. Kelsier took hold of it and pulled, just pulled, his heart beating faster and adrenaline giving strength to his arms and finally it broke free.

Kelsier had in his hand what might be the object he was searching for and Kelsier again began to withdraw his arm, it was harder with the object in his hand but he kept it together as the rocks cut into his arms, and finally he had it free. Kelsier looked up towards the surface, he had come this far and he wasn't going to give up. Filled with renewed determination, Kelsier began to climb, the longest ascent of his life, making his way through the darkness, relying on his sense, reaching out and grabbing each rock above, climbing.

It felt like hours, it might have been, all Kelsier knew was that if he didn't make it out today, he probably wasn't going to make it out at all. He began to feel faint but finally he began to hear voices, the sound of two people arguing, someone groaning, another laughing, someone coughing, an impact of someone possibly being hit. Kelsier still climbed he was almost there, he passed someone on the way, lying there and Kelsier ignored him, he kept on going.

The opening appeared and Kelsier could see the darkness of the night sky through it, and Kelsier carried on, his muscles removing all the fatigue that had built up so he could make it. Finally Kelsier felt his hand break the surface, grabbing hold of the top and pulling himself up, his head broke through, however his legs began to grow weak, and slip, Kelsier felt his hand's begin to grow weak and slip, he was halfway out but he was slipping back in.

He saw someone run towards him as he fell, his legs lost their footing and he body began to slip through, his head going next, his arms still outstretched began to fall with him into the pits, but he felt something grab his arms, something pull him, and Kelsier felt his decent stop, only for a moment and then it started again, much slower and he heard someone call out for him. Kelsier felt more hands grab him and he started to rise, pulled up from the pits, pulled away from death's release. As soon as his torso was free, strong muscles gripped him, bringing him up from the death grip of the pits, until finally Kelsier was there lying on the ground.

Kelsier slowly began to focus his eyes, he saw Alex on the ground, breathing hard, two more men beside him as well. Kelsier looked around, no one looked at them, just another group coming out of the pits. Kelsier looked back at his hand, the geode still clutched firmly in it, covered in his blood. Then he looked at his arms and that sickened him. His arms, they were layered with tons of scratches, cut, bleeding, the blood covered his whole arms and hands, layering each other, his legs were scratched and bleeding as well as his whole body. He could feel the night air passing through the inside of his shirt, moving between the rips and brushing up against the bleeding gashes on his back.

Kelsier felt someone grab him and help him up, supporting him. Kelsier looked to see Tristan, sweating but smiling. "You got one, good, now we all can live another week."

Kelsier couldn't think clearly at the moment, to ponder what he had just said, _for the week? _The thought however was drowned by the fact that he was alive. The thought suddenly died when he saw a guard walking towards them.

"Geode." He asked, holding out his hand, "and name."

Kelsier handed him the object, "Kelsier Tristing." He said.

The guard scanned his page and then called out for another guard, "check off Kelsier Tristing." He said. The other guard nodded and moved down his list to check it off. The guard then looked at Alex and the rest of the group and asked. "Geode and name."

Alex was the first to speak, "Alex Retal, I've already handed mine in."

The second member, a man who looked like he was thirty with a faint beard and a few scars on his face was next. "Price Hekel"

The third member was the tallest of them, "Doxtun Carrio." He said. "We've all handed ours in."

The guard checked their names, quickly calling in the other guards as well to check. Finally he nodded and glanced over at Tristan and asked, "Geode and name."

"Tristan Retal." Tristan said, "I gave mine in earlier today."

The guard looked over at the sheet he had and shook his head, "I don't see a check at your name. Are you trying to lie to me?" The guard asked.

Tristan looked confused; Kelsier could understand he had seen the geode in the young man's hand, "No, I swear, I handed it in." Tristan replied, fear began to cloud his voice as he became frightened that his voice began to stammer. "Please, I-I handed it in."

Kelsier thought he saw a smile begin to form on the guards mouth. The man motioned for some of the other guards, and the began to gather around them.

"I handed it in." Tristan said scared. "I handed it in." He said again but this time more to himself.

One of the guards grabbed Tristan and pulled him away from Kelsier, leaving him supportless, making Kelsier fall back to the ground. He tried to look and see what was happening. "No! No! No!" Tristan screamed as he was being dragged away from them by two guards, two others followed behind, they almost seemed eager for what was about to happen. The two that were holding Tristan threw him down onto the ground and the four guards encircled him. Some of the prisoners gathered around to watch.

Alex came up behind Kelsier and lifted him up again; helping him stand and watch what was about to unfold. Kelsier almost asked what was about to happen but he got his answer shortly.

Tristan was crying as he tried push himself onto his feet. He struggled on his knees but he didn't get any farther as one of the guards punched him in the face. Tristan fell back down, again he tried to get back up, this time another guard kicked him in the chest and he fell again. Every time Tristan tried to get up he was knocked back to the ground.

"This is what happens if you don't get a geode by the end of the week." Alex said solemly. "We're just skaa to them and no skaa has the right of living to them."

Tristan was bleeding from his mouth, several cuts on his cheeks, his nose. He was bruised, and crying. Finally after being knocked down another time, Tristan lept at one of the guards, using strength and speed that surprised Kelsier. The man tackled one of the guards in the chest, knocking him over. One of the guards drew a chain and swung it at Tristan. The iron metal rapped against Tristan's back and he howled in pain. The guard on the ground pushed him off and grabbed his shield off his back, using it to bash Tristan on the side so the man fell over once again. Each of the guards drew their own chained whips and began whipping Tristan. All he could do was lie there, bleeding from his whole body, curled up and screaming.

"Alex!" Tristan screamed, barely audiable over the constant _whish_ of the whips. Kelsier looked over at the man, his hands were clenched tightly together, Kelsier could see a tear begin to roll down his cheek. _Why wasn't he doing something. They're going to kill him. _Kelsier tensed up and Alex grabbed Kelsier's arm before he could move.

Kelsier looked at the guards whipping Tristan, each of them cutting him open. He was flayed alive, beaten by the guard's brutal fists and legs, whipped by their iron chains. Finally Tristan lay motionless on the ground and one of the guards held up his hand. The rest of them suddenly began to back off and the creature Kelsier had seen earlier appeared, floating towards the guards. It went up to Tristan's body, it still moved and Tristan tried to get up. Kelsier felt his rage come up, that rage that had always made him do powerful things. The guards had beaten the first friend he had here down, and they were planning to kill him and Kelsier wasn't about to stand aside and let it happen.

Kelsier ran forward, breaking free of Alex's grip. Alex called out for him but Kelsier ignored him. He ignored his legs that were crying for respite. He headed towards the guards, one of them approached Tristan raising his sword and Kelsier tackled him. The first thing coming to Kelsier's mind, _what the hell am I doing, _the second thing, _nobleman, the only thing in this world that deserves to be destroyed. _Kelsier raised his fist to strike the guard but he was grabbed from behind, and tossed backwards. The guard he had tackled got up, rammed his sword into Tristan's gut before pulling it free and beginning to walk towards him.

Kelsier saw the creature move up to the dead body and then it did something that sickened him, it took hold of the body and it looked like it was eating it, ingesting it. Kelsier turned away horrified, and then he realized that when Alex meant the creature stole your soul it literally stole your soul.

Kelsier didn't have much chance to ponder or do anything because the guard he had assaulted kicked him in his gut. "Useless skaa! Know! Your! Place!" He said, kicking him even harder as he punctuated each word with another kick. "Next time and I'll beat your living brains out." He finished with one final kick and then left, leaving Kelsier on the ground, gasping for breath. The greatest thief in the Final Empire was reduced to lying on the ground.

In the background was a tall man with a long beard and dark hair chuckling at the scene.

"Your boy should learn never to steal." He said.

Kelsier looked up at him, "So you stole his geode." He knew the answer.

"My geode." The man said.

"Watch your back." Kelsier replied, he felt someone help him up, and Kelsier turned to see Alex.

"Like you could threaten me boy." The man seemed to laugh.

"Get lost Kar. This is your only warning." Alex said and the man simply shrugged.

"You're weak Alex." He replied as he turned and left, walking away from them.

"Congratulations." Alex said as he turned to face Kelsier once the big man left. "You just survived week one."

Kelsier groaned.

"Oh." Alex added, "And welcome to the Pits of Hathsin."


	3. Week 2: The Beginning of The End

Week 2: The Beginning of the End

"_Many religions believe that you're life does indeed flash before your eyes in the time leading up to your death."_ – Sazed

Kelsier awoke to the clanging bells of the pits, the sound knocking him from his sleep, Kelsier instinctively tried to block it out, holding up his hands to cover his ears but the sound penetrated through, easily making Kelsier groan as his eyes opened. _Can't a thief get some sleep around here? _The interior of his tent greeted him, the dark beige type colour of the walls and the five palettes places closely together almost as if they were crammed to fit into such a small place. Each palette was occupied and it took Kelsier a moment to remember where he was, _The Pits of Hathsin. _And then the memories came back.

_"Thank you Mare." The Lord Ruler said, "Your part helped a great deal in Kelsier's capture."… "Kelsier." Mare whispered, her voice carried the agony she felt, "I didn't…" her voice fell on deaf ears as __Kelsier__ turned away, ignoring her._

The trip from Luthadel, Redd's death, the obligators, Inquisitors, and finally the Pits of Hathsin it all began to catch up to him all at once.

_The steel chain whips sliced open Tristan's skin. Kelsier stood there helpless, supported by Alex. They just watched as the guards whipped their friend, beat him down, until he lay motionless on the ground, Tristan's screams still ringing in Kelsier's ears. Tristan began to move again, slowly as the monster of a creature came towards him, the guard looked at him before drawing his sword, and that was when Kelsier's rage exploded, filling him and Kelsier burst forward, ignoring Alex's cries to stop._

_He ran across the open ground, the guard raised his sword and Kelsier tackled him, knocking him to the ground, planning to beat him senseless, he raised one fist but the guard's comrades responded quickly, taking hold of Kelsier and tossing him away._

Kelsier sat up on his bed, the memories, still in his head, tearing at him; Kelsier raised his hand's to his head holding it tight trying to survive the torrent.

_The man, the tall man with the long beard and dark hair, he laughed as the monster ate his corpse, and he admitted to doing something. _

Kelsier let out a short scream, then he felt hands on him, hands gripping him, voices, "Fight it Kell, it isn't real, it's all in the past." The memories fought him, trying to break him, destroy him, but the voices, they reminded him of who was on his side. He had something fighting with him and so he fought back, resisting, and pushing down those memories, and the pain in his head began to fade, slowly but it faded.

Kelsier opened his eyes, not realizing that he had shut them, Alex was right beside him, Doxtun was there as well as most of the people in the tent. Their names began to come back to him now. Alex was the less then average sized skaa, short and skinny, with medium length black hair, dark skin, and packed with muscle. He wore a pendent around his neck, the words _the enemy of my enemy is my friend_ were itched into the small hanging metal. On the other side of the metal the words _b_e_tter to die with the heart, then to live without it _were engraved. Doxtun was the tall one towering over them all, his blond hair was down to his neck, and the shirt he had on now looked like it once had sleeves but were torn off, he reminded Kelsier of Hammond, the thug in his crew.

Next was Lin, she was a frail looking prisoner who bared the most cuts on her faces, each one was lined across layered over each other, at most times she seemed to be starring off into the distance, her eyes unfocused but now she sat beside Kelsier with her hands gripping his arm. Kelsier could see that she knew what he was going through, and she held on to him, as if she was trying to give him her strength to survive what had happened.

Ragg was the fifth member of the tent, the only man who had taken the most beatings from the guards and survived. He wore no shirt now since his last trip into the pits had torn it up completely leaving his upper torso a mass of cuts and scars. He had no hair, and his eyes were like swords that pointed right at you. The rest of the tent called him point blade, he reminded Kelsier of his brother, Marsh. He was the less friendliest, usually he hung beside Alex but now he just sat on his palette, looking at Kelsier, almost as if he silently hated him. Kelsier had first met him last night after he had arrived from his trip to the pits and his beating. There was a short piece of cloth wrapped around his right hand, a thin strip that was probably used to cover or bandage a wound. There was also a scar on his left cheek, a long thin scar stretching from the front of his cheek to a few inches across.

The last man, seemed much older then the rest of them and he had been here the longest. He talked to himself a lot and everyone in the tent considered him half mad, although no one knew how he still managed to get the geodes that kept him alive. His name was Gemmal, his hair that once must have shined black, now had gray in it, scars littered his body, and he appeared weak to everyone else, but Kelsier wasn't everyone else. He looked closely and he saw the man was more alert then everyone else in the room and Gemmal had his way of calming people down. When Gemmal talked to him, Kelsier felt himself feeling calmer, his fear and troubles began to leave him.

"Does this always happen?" Kelsier asked to the group.

Lin was the one who responded. Her voice was gentle as she explained. "It always happens to newcomers, the first time you come to the pits it has an affect on you, the next day you have to survive against your memories, your past." Then almost silently she added, almost talking to her self, "Then the next time it happens, I can feel it coming for me."

Kelsier wanted to ask what she meant but Lin withdrew from the group leaving them. Kelsier then remembered his cuts, the wounds on his arms, and he looked down at them. His arm's were wrapped in pieces of cloth, and he slowly began to unwrap them, pulling away his makeshift bandages, revealing his arms which were layered with scars of every size, small and large, shallow and deep. They hurt and they were covered with dry blood, the pieces of cloth however were soaked, it was amazing that he had survived this long already.

Alex saw Kelsier looking at his arms and he knew what he was thinking, all of them bore the scars. "You'll survive a lot of things that would normally kill you , that is just the first step."

They all nodded, and then it was Doxtun who broke the silence, "New week, time to go back to work." He let out a soft sigh as did everyone else, resigning themselves to having to find a geode so they could last another week. They all left one by one, heading out, Alex stayed with Kelsier, holding out his hand for Kelsier to grasp and was pulled up.

"So back to the pits then?" Kelsier asked knowing full well what the response was.

"Correct." Alex replied, solemn and wishing they were somewhere else.

"Leave your past behind Kelsier." Doxtun said as he was leaving. "It can't harm you here. Everything you knew is a clean slate in this place, here we're all scum to the Lord Ruler."

* * *

_"Kelsier!" Marsh screamed as he watched Kelsier fall to the ground, the obligator smiling as he cleaned his knife. Kelsier gasped in pain, the knife wound in his side had him screaming on the inside. Marsh broke the neck of the other obligator, the one who had killed his mother. Her dead corpse lay on the ground, her clothing had been torn and her hair had been wreaked. Purple welts and small cuts decorated her face and her body. Her eyes lay open and Kelsier though he could see some life in those dead eyes. Lord Tristing stood there and looked at them, no emotion __displayed on his face only the words, "Skaa, should learn never to rise above their __place," Left his mouth as he watched the onslaught, one obligator dead and the other one facing off against his son._

_"You've committed a deep crime boy!" The obligator spat, his dagger still wet with both Kelsier's and his mother's blood. Marsh moved forward, the man had killed his mother, wounded his brother and endangered his own life, the one thing he had inherited from his father that he was proud of, was his rage, the rage that made him do powerful things. Things not even an obligator could survive._

_Marsh moved forward, the obligator swung his dagger, Marsh caught it, one hand grabbing it, the other one smashing his fist into the man's face, before bringing his knee up into the man's stomach. The sound of footsteps filled the hallways, Kelsier knew there were soldiers coming, and they would never survive._

_Marsh heard them too, "Thugs." He whispered, he was a seeker, a misting who could burn copper to detect nearby allomancy, as long as the allomancer was burning it. Kelsier remembered something about what he said, something about being able to distinguish what other mistings were burning, depending on the beats that were emitted when they burned a metal. That was how he could tell they were burning pewter. He was still struggling with the obligator and they both knew all the obligator had to do was stall. Marsh, quickly hit the man with his palm, knocking him backwards before Marsh turned and ran towards Kelsier, bending over and picking him up, grunting as he bore the weight of his brother. _

_Kelsier let out another gasp of pain, his side was burning from the pain of the wound. Marsh quickly slipped one of Kelsier's arms around his neck and turned around. Lord Tristing stood infront of him, snarling with a knife bared in his hand. "You're a monster." Marsh said softly as he stared into the eyes of his father and then punctuated the last word with a strong kick between the legs. And then he ran…_

…The memories rang in Kelsier's head. That had been the first time he had seen the death of someone he cared about, and not the last. He never knew what had happened to his mother after that moment, Marsh had only been able to carry him out of there. He hadn't been able to go back for their mother's dead body. It was the third day in the week now; he was climbing out of the pits, the chasms of death as some would call it, empty handed, another day gone by where he hadn't found a geode, another day closer to his death at the hands of the task masters. He had been surprised when he first saw them, men dressed in simple clothing, vests, shorts, common enough looking, and then you saw the accessories. Chains wrapped around their arms, knives, blades, chains tipped with blades, and the deadliest of all, the ability to kill any who did not find a geode by the end of the week. Kelsier had been late the first day so he only saw the last few bits of people, now he was earlier and he saw thousands of prisoners, each of them going in and out of the pits, trying to grab a geode before they were all taken.

The sun had almost set by now, Kelsier's arms were bleeding badly from all of the failed attempts he had tried at getting a geode. He still hadn't gotten used to the pain, the constant itch of his scars and the constant stream of blood leaving his body. He was in agony his body cried out for rest just like the last three times, as he climbed out of the hole.

The fresh ashen polluted air greeted him and Kelsier took a deep breath, it was better then the air in the pits, the murky desolate air that hung there. Doxtun was waiting for him as well; he had been the first one of them to find a geode, followed by Lin. Kelsier lay on the ground for a few moments, breathing in the air as Doxtun spotted him and walked over, holding out a hand to Kelsier. Kelsier grabbed it and felt himself being pulled up, onto his feet, supported by the strong man.

"Still nothing?" Doxtun asked a hint of concern touched his voice.

"None, each one I searched was empty." Kelsier replied, he was tired, too tired, his memories had come on him unexpectedly, hitting him and he had to focus, splitting his thoughts, one to find the geode, the other to keep the memories from overwhelming him.

"Don't worry, you'll find one." Doxtun tried reassuring him, "Those things never seem to run out."

"And what if I don't?" Kelsier snapped, his frustration, and his tiredness combined together made him so angry, "What if I'm destined to die here!"

"Lighten up Kell. Remember one thing, no matter what happens there's something in each of us that nothing can take away. It's what makes us who we are. If you give up, you're pretty much surrendering to the Lord Ruler. I heard you were a pretty good thief, did you turn yourself in? Go to the Lord Ruler and just give up?"

"No...but-" Kelsier began to reply.

"No buts." Doxtun cut him off. "You don't ever give up, just because we're all skaa, we're supposed to act beaten down, worthless, have nothing to live for. We're supposed to act like we deserve this life, but do we? Aren't we better then this? You have to see deep inside people instead of just judging them on the one wrong mistake."

"Then what's left for me Dox! The Lord Ruler took my whole life away in the final moment in the palace. Everything I lived for died there!"

"Then why are you still breathing Kelsier? When you get the chance why don't you ask Alex. He used to be like you all ready to die. That was until he found a reason. No matter what reason it is, it'll keep a man from doing certain things."

Kelsier let out a sigh, he once had everything a man could ever want. Money, a loving wife, a strong loyal crew. And now after all his time, he had fallen for one women, the only person he shouldn't have trusted. _Mare, why did you do it? _

Doxtun put a hand on his shoulder, guiding him towards the tent. The day was ending and Kelsier would have to try for another geode tomorrow. The mists were coming out now, swarming the ground. The prisoners hurried towards their own tents, the lit torches would soon be the only source of light once the sun's light was gone.

Alex met up with them on the way to the tent, he was breathing hard, a fresh bruise was forming on his face and Doxtun just looked at him, as if this was an ordinary occurrence.

"Who was it this time?" Doxtun asked. "Ragg or Cain?"

Alex shook his head, catching his breath before replying. "Kar."

Doxtun let out a quick curse, muttering a few before trusting himself to speak. "Why? You know what will happen if we piss him off to much. You're strong Alex, but he has the bigger group."

"Who's Kar?" Kelsier asked as he walked silently between the two.

"He's the same big man who attacked you and Tristan." Doxtun replied after Kelsier asked. "He also controls a huge amount of prisoners, pretty much like a crew leader, and he's got a bit of sway with the guards."

"Better watch out Kell, he's got an eye on you." Alex warned, "He came after me, figuring payback was best served four days after I beat him down, although, after I took him out yet again, he decided to completely admit that it was his fault that Tristan's dead."

"So what happens now?" Kelsier asked.

"I get revenge," Alex said, then he turned to look at Kelsier, "I see you don't have a geode. You want to learn how to live another day if you don't find one in the pits?"

"Why do I get the feeling I'll be doing all the work?" Kelsier replied.

* * *

The day was ending and Kelsier was climbing up from the pits once again, his arms bleeding. He hadn't managed to find a geode, and this was the last day, he had debated on trying to stay after everyone was supposed to be out, but just guessed that the taskmasters would kill him just for breaking curfew. He slowly made his way up, his muscles were sore from the day's work, and today was the day he would die according to everyone else around him.

His arm's broke the surface, grabbing hold of the rocks on top and pulled himself up, climbing up and out onto the soot ridden ground. He breathed in, trying to fill his lungs with fresh air, but he coughed as he inhaled parts of ash.

Alex was there, sitting on the ground with Price, one of the men who first helped Kelsier out of the pits on his first day. It took them a moment to notice him and they slowly began to make their way towards him. Kelsier took his time to get to his feet to meet them, it was still light out and there was still time for the mists to come. He began to wonder if he might have time to go back in to the pits once more and try for another geode.

Alex and Price were nearing Kelsier when he first began to notice their voices, they were arguing and they began to pick up the pace, approaching Kelsier more quickly. Silent alarms wrung in Kelsier's head as he pondered what was happening, his fists balled up as he began to straighten and stand tall. Kelsier waited for them where he stood, soon he began understanding the words.

"...That's insanity Alex, Tristan's dead, nothing can change it!" Price spoke firmly, as if trying to end the conversation where it was but Alex wasn't stopping. "Do you want him dead too-"

"Not if it means saving another life, let him decide." Alex snapped back, obviously angry, his tone however went down considerably as he turned drew near Kelsier, finally turning to speak to him.

Kelsier didn't wait for Alex to talk, "I didn't find one. It's over for me."

Alex shook his head, "Kelsier remember when I asked if you wanted to learn what to do when you didn't find a geode in time?" Kelsier nodded once. "Well it seems someone else was graced with a second geode this day and I presume it would be in your best interest to grab it."

Kelsier stood dumbfounded, here he was awaiting certain death and now someone else found an extra geode. He had been the best thief in the Final Empire but something seemed off. Kelsier took a closer look at Alex and Price, looked in their eyes. What he saw wasn't doubt but fear, something told him that he wouldn't like this idea so much soon and he would like it so much less as soon as he found out who he would be stealing from. "Who exactly would I be helping lighten their load.?" he asked, after all Price and Alex couldn't have been arguing over nothing.

"It's nothing Kelsier." Price cut in. "Forget about it. It's just another stupid idea Alex came up with to kill himself along with another few people."

"It's not nothing." Alex retorted firmly.

"It's not happening." Price replied firmly.

"Let him decide!" Alex replied heatedly.

"Who is it?" Kelsier all but shouted.

Price and Alex stopped bickered and after a moment Alex finally muttered, "Kar."

* * *

_I'm insane, _The same thought occurred over and over again in Kelsier's mind, always repeating ever since he agreed to the plan. _This can't possibly be the product of any sane man's mind._ Kelsier couldn't stop thinking about it, even as he walked the soot covered ground alone, Alex and Price stood by waiting and watching him, ready to go to his aid if need be, although Price had mentioned that even though they were there, they would probably be too late to save him, but they would give their regards to Kar in full. Alex's own words echoed in Kelsier's mind, _Remember not to give up. If you wanted to die you would be dead already._

Now here he was trailing Kar, right behind him, the geode was wrapped in a small piece of cloth held tightly in his hand, and Kelsier's mind was quickly going over his own plan. _I'm pretty sure this would count as me commiting suicide. _In his own hands, he had a similar piece of cloth, it held pieces of ash, soot and rock and a small personal message to Kar. He had to time the switch perfectly, for it to remain unnoticed, and so he walked behind Kar until the time came and it was coming. Kelsier's eyes payed close attention to Kar's grip, it held the geode tightly and soon he would have to relax his grip to get the blood flowing properly into his hand.

There! Kar's hand shifted ever so slightly, his hands were whitening, and soon they would be forced to relax, releasing the death grip, Kelsier moved in closer, walking faster to get into a proper position, all of his focus was focused on this one task, and it went a bit easier when prisoners around him began to scatter. Kelsier still waited, and then it came, he barely heard Price's shout as Kar was forced to release his death like grip on his geode and Kelsier quickly moved. Both of his hands working quickly, Kelsier willed time to slow as his fingers worked, in the span of a few seconds what it would take a normal thief a much longer time.

Kelsier's fingers expertly pushed on certain points of the cloth covered geode, however it didn't feel that right, something felt off about the form of the shape. Still he managed to loosen it with a swift motion he took his own wrapped parcel and expertly switched them, sliding the replacement into place as he pulled the geode away from Kar. The replacement was almost in place, sliding in and then Kar's hands tightened, squeezing together and Kelsier was forced to try and disappear in the crowd.

Kar had felt the cloth moving and so his grip returned, his eyes moving to see that the object had only slipped a bit but he he managed to catch it before it fell. Kelsier however soon realized that there was no crowd around him to disappear too, they were all shuffling to the side and only a few of them remained in the unpopulated part, and Kelsier soon realized why.

The Inquisitor was here, it hadn't noticed him and so Kelsier decided to try and get to safety quickly, dashing towards the side and into the crowd, letting out a breath of relief before turning to see what was going to happen. _I survived. _

The Inquisitor turned it's head to look at Kar who had kept on walking before turning to see the Inquisitor and then noticing how everyone else was. The creature moved towards Kar, Kelsier could feel the tremors of its presence pass among the prisoners.

Alex and Price managed to get to Kelsier, sliding up beside him. "You're insane!" Price whispered.

"I think I realized that, after all I am the only person who tried to steal from the Lord Ruler." Kelsier replied. He turned to face Alex, "I still don't believe your logic but I guess I don't really want to die just yet.

"Told you." Alex just said, before the Kar's voice was heard clearly among the prisoners.

"It was here!" He shouted, Kelsier could see the man clearly, his hands held the cloth, its contents were scattered on the ground and the man's words scanned the words printed on it the cloth. _Who's laughing now. _

_"_Apparently not Kar. You know the price. The deal was set and you broke it." The Inquisitor said calmly, his voice instilled a strong amount of fear in the people who heard it.

Kar's face immediately searched the crowd and found Kelsier, his eyes locking onto him, a slight change in his face was all the warning Kelsier got before he charged.

"I'm dead." Kelsier stated, as everyone began to scatter around him. _Looks like Alex was wrong after all, I don't have anything left to live for. _He knew Kar would kill him, this was a survival thing and when a man has nothing left to lose he becomes far more dangerous. _I'm sorry Mare._

The thought, it felt as if something happened as her name went through his head, and the next thing Kelsier saw was the Inquisitor stand in Kar's way, Kar didn't care however, he charged the Inquisitor, one arm going around the creature's neck another arm to hold it in place putting it into a death lock hold.

The creature gasped as it struggled to free itself to no avail and then suddenly the metal ring on Kar's foot shot up, pulling Kar with it and unfortunately for him the Inquisitor. They shot across the ground until Kar landed on the ground with the Inquisitor landing straight on top of him, causing him to gasp and release the Inquisitor who got up and stared straight at the fallen prisoner, Kar still tried to resist tried to get up, scrambling to his feet, one hand going to an object underneth his shirt. In a swift motion Kar had drawn a small sharp object, the remnants of a sword perhaps and he threw it at the Inquisitor, the creature just stood their and as the blade approached it something happened to it, almost as if was being manipulated. In the next second the blade shattered, metal bits flying everywhere and the crowd of prisoners lifted their arms to cover themselves. Kelsier suddenly felt a sharp pain in his arm, his wounds must have been worse then he thought after all.

"This is your last chance." it said, it's voice was deep and sounded as if it belonged to that of three people, echoing with divine energy. "Where is it?

Kar stared hatefully at the creature, before finally reaching inside his torn lower garments and pulling out a geode. He handed it to the creature who took it and then left, ignoring Kar as if he was worthless, however unknown to the rest, the Inquisitor spared a small glance back at the man before calling a guard and muttering something to him.

Kelsier took it as a reason to leave, and Alex and Price joined him. They quickly hurried towards the collectors building where Kelsier would drop off his geode. On the way he unwrapped the cloth bundle however Kelsier became increasingly worried until finally, the cloth came away to reveal a small wooden box. Despair began to fill him.

Alex just shook his head and said, "Didn't being a thief ever teach you that things aren't always what they appear." With that he took the small box, the shape of which was a bit bigger then that of a geode and he threw it at the ground, bringing his foot down on the object, breaking it open and revealing one small geode. He picked it up and handed it to Kelsier.

Kelsier accepted it, wondering what would be so important about these geodes, what did they hold, he noticed however that there was something itched into the inside of the wooden shards. Looking closer, Kelsier managed to make out the words: _I know whats...thre. It's worth mre thn youre givng_. The rest of the letters were unreadable, and however it took him a quick reread to fill in the missing letters to some of the words. _I know whats there, It''s worth more then you're giving. _Whatever was in the geode Kelsier had was worth far more then he thought.

They approached the building and he headed inside, handing in his geode and then coming back out, still pondering the idea, but the only answer that came to mind was unbelievable. There would have to be something inside of them to be worth more then a life of a slave. But what? There was nothing he could bring to mind. The way back to the tent went quickly, in his mind Kelsier still pondered the problem in his head, Price had left them for his own tent and now he was alone with Alex walking towards their own. Then another thought occurred to him, Alex had talked to him all about not giving up and about something to live for but it must come from somewhere.

"You never really gave an example." Kelsier said, they were alone in the mists as they came out, Kelsier had never been one to be afraid of the mists, he felt that they were protective and it was easier to get away in heists when it was harder to be seen. "Something kept you living, unless why else haven't you given up yet."

Alex wasn't someone who talked a lot unless pushed, and he knew Kelsier wasn't going to let this rest. "When I came here, I was a guard for the Lord Ruler. Kar was there too, he was probably the best of them all. He could put men into a hold that would leave them helpless, I've never seen anyone able to break his iron grip. They called him the creator of the death grip. He almost did it to the inquisitor."

Alex sighed as his memories came back to him, and it almost looked like as if he was struggling to control them. "It was all I could do to support my family, my brother, my sister, my mother. My father was killed defending my mother, he said that he would rather defend and die for the women he loved then live alone without her. He was a nobleman." The pain of the memories began to show in his voice as he struggled to keep it even.

The last part shocked Kelsier, he had always hated nobleman, his own father had been a nobleman, responsible for the execution of his mother.

"We're all skaa, I might be a half breed but it doesn't matter." Alex continued. "The day they took me, they slaughtered my family, everyone except Tristan who managed to get away." Hatred began to fill Alex's face as he remembered the scene, almost as if it had just happened, his breathing began to get harder and faster and pain mixed into his anger as he went on. "My mother was killed straight away after tracking down, and finding out who she was and what we were. My sister was raped, and I was taken for the pits. Tristan came a few weeks later. I lost everything that day, I didn't care if I lived. There was nothing for me, everything was gone. But there's only one reason I'm alive now." Alex let out a sigh as he came back to the present. "As I said, everyone has one thing they live for, everyone. Even if they don't know it yet."

Kelsier listened, Alex had lost more then he had, Kelsier had only lost his mother to the Lord Ruler, his wife had betrayed him but Alex had lost everything. At least back in the Final Empire, in Luthadel, people would remember Kelsier as the greatest thief ever to live. Or Kelser, the stupidist theif that ever lived.

"What is it?" Kelsier asked. What was it that made Alex hold on if everything had been taken from him.

There was no response from Alex.

Kelsier began to feel a bit faint, his cuts on his arms had only been wrapped in a small piece of cloth which were already wet with blood, and it also made Kelsier feel so much more relieved as they approached the tent. Doxtun was outside, one hand on his head and he appeared to be waiting. He called out as he saw them, "Alex, you're needed." he called. Alex nodded once before moving on ahead, Kelsier right behind him into the tent, Doxtun moving in behind them. All Kelsier saw was Gemmal on his own pallet, talking to himself, Ragg was nowhere to be seen and Lin was under the thin covers of her own palette, sitting up with her arms around her knees balled up and shaking, almost as if she was crying.

Alex did one look around the tent before swiftly moving towards Lin, ignoring everyone else, he slipped under the covers and put an arm around her, letting her rest her head against him. He held her tightly, as if he was holding her close so she wouldn't drift away, and she just sobbed.

Kelsier looked at Doxtun questioningly, he just shrugged saying, "She's convinced she's going to die. She's having nightmares, something about her time is coming. Alex seems to be the only one that he can calm her down, I don't know what his taste is in insanity these days."

Kelsier looked back at Alex, he saw him comforting Lin, and it reminded him of Mare, and then the traitors pain stabbed at him, the old pain of being betrayed. But then here in all of the places in the land, he saw something he thought he had had. And then he fainted.


	4. Week 3: Heart

Week 3: Heart

"_Tin lets you feel things more clearly, helps you see, hear, sense. It's like us, once you've experienced it, you really don't know how you lived without it. How you would live without it?" - Mare_

Kelsier awoke to the thundering clanging of the bells. A new day was coming, a new day that he would have to get up, and crawl into some cracks in the ground to find a prisim like object that would keep him alive for another week. This was week three and Kelsier had no illusions about it being any better then the last one. Kelsier the fabled thief of the Final Empire, reduced to a snivelling skaa peasant who worked his miserable life just as a good skaa should.

Then it hit him, the feeling of despair, it was almost as if something was making him feel this way. Kelsier never really felt this bad, he had accepted that he was a skaa and then he had gone about changing it, he would never give up, but something was keeping his spirits up. It was as if something was making sure he never got hopeful. Then the answer came, a soother. Kelsier could recognize the touch of a soother somewhat by now, after all of his years with his own crew of allomancers, his own soother Breeze had made it a habit to try and manipulate people into doing what he said. But there was something different as well, something Kelsier couldn't place, it was as if he felt something was coming, something that would hurt him very badly.

_I'm insane, this place just helps fuel the fact. _Kelsier forced his eyes open, his tent like always was dimly lit, the sunlight from the outside shined in through the entryway, and he already found everybody had already gotten up and left. Everybody but Lin, she still lay in her bed, her eyes were open just staring at the ceiling, as if waiting, expecting something to come.

_The memories,_ a voice suddenly said, Kelsier's eyes grew wide as he moved his head around. He could have sworn the voice was real. He silently shook his head, the pits were already casting illusions on him, sooner or later he would have thought he had found a geode which would probably turn out to be just soot.

Since resting wasn't going to help him find a geode Kelsier decided to get up, and so he sat up, grunting as he moved his left arm. For some reason it seemed to hurt more then usual. He looked at the pieces of cloth covering it, his hand moving to check if the wounds were better. _What's the point, there going to get cut up again anyway. _His hand suddenly halted, as he listened to the words, then silently agreeing with himself decided to check later.

Kelsier threw the small piece of covering that covered him off, getting up off the palette and found his boots right next to where he was sitting. He slowly rubbed his eyes before slipping his boots on and getting up and dressed and heading for the exit but stopped when Lin called out to him.

"Have you started to have the memories yet?" she asked.

Kelsier stopped dead at her voice, _keep going. _Kelsier ignored his own thought after all she might actually know something about it.

"They're like a timer on how much time you have left." She had taken his silence for his answer and so she continued. "Everyone has them, it's how you know you're going to die."

"You're insane." Kelsier heard himself reply, more harshly then he usually would be.

"And so people say about you." Lin replied. Then she slowly got up and out of her own palette, fully dressed and moved towards him, motioning him to walk with her.

"They may say I've lost my sanity but here, it's like the pits decide your fate. I'm not mad, in fact I may be one of the only sane ones left. You may die sooner, but only if something else happens that is unforeseen."

"You sound like a preacher. Like you believe that we don't have a choice to determine who we are." Kelsier said. "If that was true then I would be dead by now."

"You may soon very well be."

It was not a long walk to the kitchens, the small building that had been constructed to feed the prisoners. He and Lin made it there quickly, grabbing a small plate and disgusting looking food that consisted of possibly too much water and some type of edible murky mush.

"I've counted ten so far, Kelsier." Lin said as she found a table to sit down at. "They started when my life started and are bringing me closer to this day. I have a feeling that soon, I'm going to die and there is nothing anybody can do about it."

* * *

_"They took her away from me!" Kelsier shouted__. "The nobleman who think that they're so high and mighty that they can do whatever they please!"_

_"Then what are you going to do Kel?" Marsh asked, his voice barely kept under control. "You could help me."_

_Kelsier shook his head as he paced the room, "You know the rebellion is hopeless Marsh." he turned to look at his brother, the one who had saved him so long ago from the obligators. "They took mother away from us, so I'm going to take the most important thing those bastards have. Their greed."_

_Marsh stared at him for a moment before replying. "Then maybe when you get good enough, you might consider stealing the city from the Lord Ruler."_

_Kelsier's anger had died down by now as he pondered the idea. "You know that's not a bad idea." he said, the slight trace of a smile touching his face._

Kelsier rubbed his head, the second day of the week and he had yet another memory hit him out of nowhere. If he looked back on his life, Lin had said that they started with a memory of the beginning of her life. To Kelsier the beginning of his life as a skaa, what made him who he was now, that moment had been the day his mother had died. However that had been his second memory. All of this stuff was hurting his head, and after rubbing it, he gently moved his hand over his left arm. It felt sore, and that wasn't a good thing since Kelsier was headed to the pits at the moment.

He made the long trek, from the kitchen house alone, even though he knew it was dangerous he had to find a geode as quickly as possible. His mind slowly began to wander again, but he called it back as the pits came in sight, the task masters slowly pushing prisoners along, at times using their deadly chain whips to clear the way. He was almost there when he saw Alex and Doxtun rushing towards him, and the look on their faces stopped him dead in his tracks.

Kelsier stopped moving, not wanting to rush towards a death he had no idea was coming. The two men easily reached him in a matter of moments, Doxtun stopped when he was close enough, clutching his chest as he tried to get some breath back into his body. Alex stopped beside him, his own dark tanned face was covered in sweat as he tried to get his breathing back to normal and fill his lungs. Kelsier gave them a moment, waiting for them to tell him what happened, but then his own eyes widened when he saw what was in their hands. Both of them had their hands cut deeply the cuts merging with the other cuts on their arms. Each of them carried their own geodes but what surprised Kelsier was that Alex was carrying two.

Kelsier back up at Alex, his expression hadn't changed much. "Price is dead."

Kelsier's breath caught for a moment, Price was dead and something tugged at him. Alex didn't wait for him to ask before continuing. "He was in the pits, some other prisoners killed him there. The thing is they didn't take his geode. No one kills a prisoner unless it's over a geode."

Kelsier stood their puzzled, why would they leave his geode unless they didn't know he had one. That wouldn't make much sense then because prisoners only die from other prisoners when they have a geode and another prisoner gets desperate enough to try and take it by force. _It makes no sense._

"Your friend should have stayed away when he could."

The newcomers voice caught Kelsier by surprise but he spun quickly to face the announcer. Kar stood there, two other prisoners stood by him, the one on his right he recognized as Wraden, the tall man looked almost identical to Kar, except instead of dark black long hair he had short dark hair. The other one was Mear, a female who had a strong reputation among the prisoners at the pits. She came up to Kar's nose and although her muscles weren't as big as the other men, Kelsier had heard enough to know that she was far more intelligent then the rest of them. The eyes of all three of the prisoners rested on him.

"What do you want Kar." Kelsier said, he was in no mood to deal with Kar at the moment.

"You should have known what you were getting Kelsier. Your friend was the first and it only gets much worse for you."

It didn't take him even a second to register, Kelsier sprang towards Kar, not caring about the concequences. Arms gripped Kelsier from behind, holding him back away from Kar. "Calm down Kell, think about what can happen." The voice belonged to Doxtun and Kelsier didn't want to listen. "He'll kill you Kelsier. We can't take him right now." He knew Kar was responsible, and he wanted revenge. "Think Kelsier, this is exactly what happened last time."

It took time for the words to finally make sense to him but once they did Kelsier forced himself to stop, knowing full well that Kar was easily protected and there was no way he could do anything to cause him harm at the moment. He felt the arms gripping him relax as he began to take a few steps back, standing between Doxtun and Alex.

"This isn't over Kar." Kelsier said, his anger barely under control, he made _sure _Kar understood that this was something he wouldn't be able to escape. "It took seven steel Inquisitors, a mistborn, a traitor and the Lord Ruler himself to bring me down last time. Think carefully, because you have finally made an enemy of me."

Kelsier felt Doxtun tug at him, pulling him away from Kar and the rest of his bodyguards, Alex falling into step behind him. He faintly heard Kar saying, "He's amusing." as he walked towards the Pits, to begin his search once again in the pits.

* * *

Night was falling, the mists were approaching and Kelsier was exhausted. His arms bleed an incredible amount, his legs bleed and he was tired beyond belief. Kelsier tried to keep hold of his place in the Pits, struggling not to fall down into the darkness below. With a final kick Kelsier knocked the prisoner below him free from his hold, sending him crashing through the caves unable to grab hold of anything to his death. Freedom, that was what Kelsier had granted him, even if the prisoner didn't deserve it. He had attacked him from the darkness and Kelsier had barely managed to survive the encounter. Sweat beaded Kelsier's face as looked back up, it was a short distance to the top but it was getting out that would prove to be the most difficult challenge. Kelsier began his slow ascent again, trying not to think about the other prisoner who had attacked him out of nowhere. He was sure the man belonged to Kar, and he was also sure the man didn't have a geode either. Now however, grasped firmly in one hand Kelsier held his own geode, but it wouldn't do him much good if he couldn't get out of the pits to survive the week.

_Just a bit more. _Kelsier could see the night ash covering the sky. He kept moving, one hand finally grabbing hold of the surface edge. _Finally. _Now came the hard part, with one hand gripping the edge, Kelsier used his legs to kick at the walls inside the pits to push himself up, struggling to lift himself over the edge and onto the solid ground. With a final grunt he managed to push, overcoming his exhaustion for just a moment but it was the moment that allowed Kelsier to climb out of the pits and free himself off its deathly embrace. He waited a moment to catch his breath, it came in short quick intakes of air which soon shifted to more long intakes of air as his body became used to the amount of air now available to it. When he was finally able to, Kelsier pushed himself off the ground, onto his feet, grunting from the pain. His arms throbbed and threatened to cut themselves off of him but everyday now was like a struggle for survival and this was something he could not afford to slow him down.

It was the third day and Kelsier had gotten an early start in the pits today, that was probably why he had managed to get a geode today, earlier in the week. He quickly made his way through the camp, heading towards the guard building to hand in his geode, not wanting to hold onto it a moment longer then necessary. The geode brought death, and death was something Kelsier would survive.

Alex was waiting for Kelsier outside the building when he got out, alone standing in the mist that every skaa outside of the pits would be terrified of. _The mist steals your soul. _The was what one skaa had said but it was all simple superstition.

"I heard you found a geode." Alex said as Kelsier approached.

"News travels quick." Kelsier replied, he wasn't much in the mood for talking at the moment, he felt as if he could just fall down dead on the spot.

"Here." Alex put out his hand and dropped a geode into Kelsier's own hand, his eyes slowly widened as he saw the object being handed to him. "It was Price's, thought you might need it. Keep it, it'll help you live longer."

"What about you?" It seemed strange that Alex would give Kelsier another week of life when he might very well need it instead.

At first Alex didn't answer, he just stood their, his head bowed, thinking. "I've been hearing things Kell." he said, his voice seemed a bit distant. "Nobody here has ever survived sixteen months in this place. None, I think it may have something to do with the Inquisitors. They only come here every sixteen months as well, it used to be like that, when there weren't as many prisoners. Prisoners were sent here every sixteen months but its begun increasing, now they come in batches of sixteen whenever they're able to." Alex shook his head a bit, blinking as his eyes refocused. "If what they say is true, then I might not need that geode much longer."

Kelsier had heard that type of speech before, it was as if Alex had begun to give up and that was something Kelsier wouldn't allow, if not for himself it had always been his own job to make other people go on and that didn't stop here.

"Listen to me Alex, we can make it though here. No matter what happens, the Pit's can't kill us. Not if others can remember who we are." Kelsier held out Price's geode towards Alex. He looked at it once before shaking his head and pushing the geode back towards Kelsier. "Keep it. Just in case."

Kelsier closed his fingers around the geode. "We won't die. Not if we fight."

Alex just nodded once, but it was weak as if only a tiny part of him actually believed it. Kelsier wasn't so sure he believed it himself.

* * *

The headache was growing worse, Kelsier rubbed his head, it had started hurting sometime near the morning. He shifted himself over on his pallet, just lying there trying to block out the pain. He still held Price's geode in his hand, his eyes going over it as his other hand just roamed his small makeshift bed. He studied it, trying to understand what it was, their was an unnatural feeling in him that wanted to know what exactly was in the geode, it wasn't atium, he was sure of that by now. The Lord Ruler was smart enough to not let any close to the prisoners so they wouldn't be able to bribe themselves out or possibly use the atium themselves if they were mistborn. His trail of thought cut off when his spare hand felt a small bit missing from his pallet, he quickly checked it to find a small hole, almost completely unnoticeable. Kelsier checked once before deciding quickly and placing the geode at the entrance and tried to push it in. At first it resisted, but the hole slowly grew a bit bigger and in a bit the geode was pushed into the pallet, almost completely, only a small bit of it was viewable and only if it was closely inspected. Anyone who felt it would just think it would be another uneven bump in the pallet.

"Kelsier!" a voice called out from the entrance as he was getting to his feet, his hand still on his pallet.

"Huh." he acknowledged, slowly turned around and seeing Lin.

"There's another group of prisoners coming in, they're being checked. Alex wanted to see if they're would be any good ones among them, want to come along?"

Kelsier thought for a moment, stay in the tent dealing with his headache of go off looking at prisoners who could go wild and kill everyone around him. Although the latter was highly unlikely he provided him with the hope that there would be something that could help take his mind off his headache. He took a few moments to get dressed completely before going with Lin to meet with Alex.

They met Alex near the edge of the F tent line, a fresh scar gleamed on his face just below his chin and completly shook off all attempts of Kelsier asking about it. Kelsier soon gave up not because of finding it useless but because his head begun to suddenly hit him with a sharp pain that made him clutch his head.

Alex looked at him with concern one hand going to his shoulder just in case he was going to fall. Kelsier quickly brushed it off, "I'm alright." he muttered as he recovered. He could tell Alex wanted to ask more, probably send him back but Kelsier wasn't about to be stopped just because of a headache. He'd been through far worse. Kelsier took a few more steps before his heart suddenly constricted on him, he couldn't breath and then the pain came...

_"So if Dox is correct then I hear you want to be a thief." Kelsier said, he couldn't hide the surprise in his voice. _

_Mare looked at him determined, a determination Kelsier knew far too well. He had had the same feeling before, the day he started on his path to become a thief, the day he swore vengeance against the noblemen who took his mother away. Against all noblemen._

_"I'm far better then you think. Plus you shouldn't be so surprised, I heard you were a noble before you-." Mare said_

_At the mention of being called a nobleman Kelsier slammed his hands down onto the wooden table, Breeze almost jumped from his chair and Ham had his hand on his sword. "Only half, a half I curse with every breath I take." Kelsier said quietly, his voice alone brought an end to that part. "Go home to your fancy places."_

_Kelsier moved to get up from where he sat and moved towards the door. Mare was faster, she dashed across the short distance between them, hitting him on his way to the door, one hand on his chest pushing him back. Kelsier didn't bother guessing, he was a professional thief and his hand quickly grabbed Mare's as it was retreating with Kelsier's coin pouch, his strong grip was not easily broken but still she struggled._

_"I'm sure Master Doxsun also told you that I can't afford to let this go. I need the work and I need the money. Then I'll leave, and you won't be able to stop me." _

_She gave another heave and Kelsier finally released her, he could tell that he had pushed her and he had to know now if she was worth the risk of taking her in._

_"And why would I want to keep you?" Kelsier asked_

_"Because when I'm done, thievery won't be enough to keep me here next to you." Mare retorted, and Kelsier knew that she was desperate, and that was dangerous. He would have to watch her but he couldn't deny her or her skills. Dox had told him after all that she was a tineye. Kelsier looked at her again, she regarded him with cold eyes, she hated him right now, it wasn't fully hate but he could also see what she wanted, to prove herself, to be given a chance._

_Kelsier let out a sigh as he realized that he was just about to give her that chance. But first._

Kelsier's eyes slowly opened but there was something keeping them from opening anymore. The memory subsided and he slowly began to feel everything around him again. He could feel the ash beneath his knees as he realized he was on the ground, his face buried in the ash. He tried breathing but the ash blocked out most of the air and he inhaled the dirt and coughed, choking on the it. He felt his heads clutched his head and he released himself, using his hands to help push him out of the ash, and back on his feet. Hands grasped him and helped him rise, he slowly began to hear the voices. "Kelsier..." they said but they sounded so distant. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He finally opened his eyes as he stood, looking out on the camp once again. "Kelsier!" the voice suddenly sounded so much more real, so much louder and he gave a short jump.

"Are you okay?" Kelsier looked to his side, to the voice. Lin, with a look of worry on her face and beside her was Alex. To his other side he saw Doxtun, each of them by his side. "Memory?" She asked.

Kelsier nodded once, for some reason that particular memory hurt so much, it pained him to the core of his soul. "I'm alright, lets go."

They began walking again, towards the gate, each of them staying close just in case he needed help. Kelsier felt his strength returning as he walked, and soon it was like it had never happened at all. He could see the building coming up, and then he saw Ragg. He was just standing at the gate that showed the outside world, the world where everyone didn't care about the pits, and the people who were there.

As they approached, Ragg turned and automatically gave Kelsier a hostile glare, before looking at everyone else and returning to his lookout. Kelsier still didn't know what Ragg didn't like about him and he couldn't be bothered to figure it out.

Kelsier felt a tap on his shoulder and looked, Alex pointed and Kelsier saw the caravan which had held the prisoners. He saw sixteen prisoners walking towards the building, males and females alike.

Then Kelsier had a sudden urge, something about one of the prisoners looked familiar. He looked closer trying to distinguish what. All he saw however were the sixteen prisoners just walking towards the building, each of them looked ready to fall over, not yet used to the use of their limbs yet. Then it came to him as he recognized one of the prisoners, a woman with short greying violet hair. Her name was Leisha, and she had been one of the first members of Kelsier's crew, helping him as he had gotten started. She had left the crew, and disappeared, and no one had know where she had gone. Until now. Kelsier waited, hoping that she would look his way but she kept her face down, rarely looking up.

Finally as they neared the building and would soon disappear from sight she turned and looked up, behind her. Kelsier followed her gaze to another prisoner who looked completely worn out, as if she had given up on life, accepting her fate. He shifted his gaze to another prisoner a man who looked to be in his early twenties and then suddenly he shifted his gaze back to the last prisoner, a sudden thought pushed its way to the surface and out of the corner of his eye he saw Ragg look at the prisoner he had been looking at before, the same one Kelsier was shifting his gaze to now. Ragg stood their gazing at the prisoner, almost as if he was bound to look upon her and Kelsier's heart stopped for a moment as he gazed upon the prisoner himself. The black hair, the lightly tanned skin. The familiar scar on her right elbow.

_Mare..._

* * *

_The one thing I want to see come true Kelsier, I want to see the flowers green and the sky clear like they were before..._

Those were the words he remembered of the woman he had once loved, the woman who had loved him back, his wife, the woman before she betrayed him. Except he didn't know if he had stopped loving her. He still didn't know why he was here, why he still waited. The guard house was in front of him, Alex, Lin and Doxtun were beside him. Ragg stood beside Alex, his gaze was fixed on the doorway leading into the building. Nobody knew he knew any of the prisoners, he could leave, disappear, he was good at that. But for some reason Kelsier felt he couldn't just walk away, and so he waited for the inevitable feeling that would come and what would happen as soon as he saw Mare.

The door opened, a man stepped out from the house, walking slowly. He was beaten, tired and bruised, his long brown hair was covered in dirt and filth and his own clothes were torn in many places. He had two scars on his face, one beneath his cheekbone and the other across his nose. His wounds could have made him look like a warrior, strong and proud and dangerous, but the way he walked now, how he looked, he had clearly given up.

Behind the man was another man, short and chubby with a long beard. He stumbled down the staires, breathing heavily and scratching his balding head. Behind him were two men who were last out the door before it shut behind them, one of them walked with only one eye open, the other had a large scar across it. The other man beside him walked with a limp. Both men looked worn out as well.

Kelsier waited a few more moments before he saw Doxtun turn to go, Kelsier moved to follow but Alex caught his arm as the door opened again. Kelsier shifted his gaze back once more to see Leisha and Mare walking closely together. A sudden pain flared to life in Kelsier's heart as he watched her walk down the steps. Mare was leaning on Leisha's shoulder just like she used to before when she was injured. They both looked tired, as if none of them had had any sleep during the trip it took to get here. Kelsier waited, unable to pull himself away, waiting for Mare's eyes to find him.

"Kelsier!" She screamed, running towards him. Kelsier felt an unexpected surge of happiness at seeing her. _She betrayed you. _And then it turned into disgust as Kelsier remembered what she did. He turned away from her as she approached, turning his back on her and walking the other way, back towards the camp. Mare stopped behind him, "Kelsier?" she said, the word almost sounded as if she was asking what happened. _Keep walking. _And he did.

He left Alex and Doxtun and Lin behind, not paying attention to them. He walked away from the woman who had caused him so much pain. He walked away from the woman he would have given his life for. He rubbed his left arm over the cloth that covered his scars. He was getting used to the pain and it was good he didn't have to go back to the pits soon, the cuts themselves pained him, but as long as they didn't reopen, the pain was a lot easier to bear.

_Maybe I should go back, Mare could have changed. _Kelsier wanted to go back, he knew he wanted to.

"_She betrayed you, keep walking. Let her feel like she's been betrayed." _Kelsier kept walking, his own thoughts however still battled inside him.

"_She doesn't know how to work in the pits, I know I can save her." _

"_She doesn't deserve it, she doesn't care about you or else she wouldn't have helped the Lord Ruler."_

"_Alex said that each person lives for something."_

"_But betrayal kills you, accept it._

"Kelsier!" Kelsier heard Mare's voice, it was almost as if she was begging. "Kelsier...please." Kelsier stopped walking, he heard Mare approach behind him. "Kelsier?" Her voice reached out to him, begging him, wishing for him alone. Kelsier's own mind was wrapped in an inner conflict, battling against himself, trying to reason with himself.

"_She's waiting for you, she wants you to hold her, like you did before. Like you want to now." _Kelsier could feel himself wanting to go to her.

"_She'll wait for you to turn you're back to her and then she will stab you in the back just to save herself. She'll take your geode and leave you for dead."_

"_No!"_

"Please Kelsier, I need you..." Mare's voice came again. Kelsier could hear the pain in her voice, he could almost see the tears come to her eyes. "Please..."

"_Remember the Lord Ruler's palace, she's the reason you're here!"_

"I'm begging you Kelsier, just look at me..." Mare, the woman he had loved all his life was there right behind him. Kelsier closed his eyes, talking a deep breath as he rubbed his arm again.

_Remember..._

"Please..."

_Why you're here..._

And Kelsier began walking away, leaving Mare unknown to him, crying, kneeling in the ashen covered ground, watching the only person she loved walk away from her.


	5. Week 6: Fight For Feeling

Week 6: Fight for Feeling

"_It's true Pewter makes you stronger then most men. But even having the strength of a thousand men won't grant you the ability to master any weapon. Most men don't understand that, they think with pewter they're invincible, well Kell. We all know you're probably going to ignore the next few words coming out of my mouth but seeing as I'm a "thug" I don't have a brain. You're not invincible Kell, we both know that. You just won't accept it. But now you know that there are at least a few hundred more people out there thinking the same thing as you. What I find hard to accept however is that you think you're invincible without even having any allomancy. I hate to think what would happen if you could burn pewter let alone become a mistborn. - Hammond_

The mists were slowly creeping out over the ground by the time Kelsier made it out of the pits. His arms were bleeding vigorously, and his whole body was sore from the whole excursion, the bloodied cloth that covered his arms was wrapped around his waist. But none of that mattered to him at the moment because in one hand he held a geode. It was the first day in the week and Kelsier couldn't believe that only a month and a few weeks had gone by, it had felt so much longer. Now the days seemed to start to blur together and he hardly remembered the events of the last two weeks.

No one was waiting for him as he walked towards the gray obligator building, his eyes strayed to the spot Mare had stood at waiting for him, everyday for the past two weeks. She wasn't there and so he walked in silence alone. He had half hoped Mare would have been there, for some reason he was still filled with a strange sensation as she watched him and even though he did debate going to her he never did. Now she was gone and Kelsier wondered if he had missed his chance to make things right. _She betrayed you. _But then why should he, she had turned on him, he didn't think he could ever trust her again. He didn't know if he could trust anyone again.

He walked towards the building and everything but the geode in his hand left his mind. The door opened and Kelsier felt an urge to hide behind one of the last remaining tents between him and the building. He acted on it and he swiftly slipped behind one tent, his eyes fixed on the door. Kar come out walking down the steps. He looked to the side and his neutral face was replaced by a look of disgust. Kelsier followed the big man's gaze and saw Ragg walking towards the big man. He stopped in front of him.

"Hello Kar." Ragg said, As Kar walked by him. "I've got a deal for you."

"What could you possibly have that I want Ragg." Kar replied without slowing.

"You want Kelsier don't you? You want to hurt him." Kar stopped in his tracks, not bothering to turn around.

"He shares the same tent as you, I thought you guys stuck together? Alex's pitiful rule if I remember."

Ragg shook his head one of his hands rose to the scar across his left cheek, "I owe Kelsier nothing, he caused me pain and it's time I got even with him."

Kar silently smiled to himself as he considered his options. "And how would you give me Kelsier."

"Mare." Ragg replied. "You take Mare and he _will _come running. He tries to hide it but I know how he feels about her."

Kar turned to face Ragg, "All right Ragg, but what do you want?

"Kelsier dead." Ragg replied bluntly and walked away. Kar went his own way and Kelsier waited before they were both long gone before he came out into the open.

He quickly unwrapped the bandages from around his waist and wrapped his arms in them, not bothering to look at the sight of his arms all cut and torn. It had been so long since he had seen them, probably a month and he wasn't about to witness his own body destroyed before him along with the rest of his life. He took one last glance around him before he went into the building and delivered his geode. Then he ran back to his tent, not stopping for anyone or anything.

Kelsier made it back to his tent out of breath still thinking about Ragg and Kar. He walked in silence not noticing Alex outside just standing beside the entrance.

"You're changing Kell." Alex's voice made Kelsier spin around. "You weren't like this when you came, you were different. You used to help people."

"I'm not like you guys Alex." Kelsier replied solemnly. "I never was. You're saying I was different, the pits change people, you of all people should know that." He turned his back to Alex and began walking toward his own palette.

"Why do you ignore her Kell?"

_He won't understand, he's never been betrayed by one he loves. _Kelsier ignored the voice in his head, his arms still hurt and that too kept eating away at him. Kelsier didn't know how anyone else learned to live with the pain but he was sure that it kept coming back stronger and stronger as the weeks went by, but still Kelsier forced himself to try and ignore the pain as he had done for the past weeks.

"She turned on us Alex, if you knew what my crew was like you'd understand how much that means. Even worse she turned me in to the Lord Ruler himself."

"You're wrong Kelsier" Alex said quietly after Kelsier had finished speaking. "You weren't that new but many people had heard of you. I heard about you too, just some skaa thief and his crew. I don't think you'd recognize me, I'm not even sure I remember what you looked like but I saw the job you pulled on House Lekal, or rather the end bits of it." Kelsier had his back to Alex, he couldn't see Alex close his eyes and remember the night.

"One of most dangerous jobs, you almost got caught actually. I saw you or what I think was you running along the roof, two other people behind you being chased by what would be a dozen guards. I was one of them. The roof of what was an ordinary house, one of you jumped the distance from that house to the next, I saw you run across about to make the jump and then I saw the other one of you, a girl I think fall. Part of the roof collapsed and she had to hold on to the edge or she would fall. I saw you go back for her, the other man turned and came back as well, not caring that there was a squad of guards on you.

"Mare told me that you only believe she's to blame because the Lord Ruler stated it. But the Kelsier I had heard so much about would have realized that that same woman who had supposedly betrayed him has ended up just like him in this damned place."

Kelsier shuddered at his words, he knew Alex was speaking the truth. He didn't know why he was feeling this way. _But he's also wrong. Mare might be here just for him to think she was on his side, a reward for helping the Lord Ruler catch him. She wouldn't die here she would just get close to him again and then rip him apart once again._

Another voice spoke up from inside. "_Do you really believe that?"_

"Tell me Alex, how would you feel if the woman you loved sentenced you to death. How you feel if the woman you loved decided to betray you after everything you went through. I saw him thank her Alex, I saw him literally thank her. He didn't have to lie, it was a genuine thanks. How would you feel?" Kelsier spoke in a soft tone, sad at the memory. He got no reply from Alex.

Kelsier forced himself to close his eyes, to dream of some better place and time when he had been happy. When he had everything a man could dream of. And slowly as he drifted off to sleep, thoughts of Mare came to him. Mare, how much she had impacted his life, what she had done to him, how she had changed him, made him better. Kelsier barely noticed his arms beginning to throb harder as his head began to ache. He slowly rubbed it, unknowingly as he slipped deeper into his thoughts of the woman who had helped him through so much. And his thoughts continued to drift...

_Kelsier heard Mare groan as she headed out onto the roof of the shop. Clubs was covering for Trap for this job and he wasn't quiet the happy person that Kelsier was which didn't help Kelsier in explaining that not everything has to be taken so seriously. But everything was planned out, Kelsier was still worried about Mare and ever since the raid on House Lekal she's becoming more and more determined to try and be independent._

_Kelsier went and picked up two staffs, he knew Mare was a quick learner but sometimes she had to be given the right push in the right direction to make her learn faster. And if he wanted her for the next job she would have to be. He tossed one staff to Mare, and she caught it with one hand, her gaze took in the surrounding night sky and the mist and her eyes grew wide and surprise took her face as she realized what was going to happen._

_"You're insane." She said, Kelsier heard her clearly and laughed. "I thought we would be jumping rooftops and disarming traps. Why would we be using weapons?"_

_"And what happens when you run into an angry merchant?" Kelsier asked. "Being beaten up by a man twice your age carrying a wooden chair isn't a very comfortable experience. I know."_

_Mare felt herself grin slightly as she imagined Kelsier getting smashed in the head by a wooden chair. A very appealing idea that deserved to be done in public after all the work she had been put through, all the jobs that had landed her with near death experiences simply because Kelsier felt he was too damned invincible for his own good._

_"Use you're tin, it'll help," Kelsier said, "But try not to fall of the edges of the building. I want you along on the next job Mare but I'd rather not have you splattered on the streets first."_

_Mare shifter her staff around before grasping it firmly with two hands and looked at Kelsier. "Why I didn't know you cared Kelsier." she replied coolly._

_"Oh I don't," Kelsier replied and in the same level tone he added, "But it would be such a disappointment not to see you in that new outfit you got from House Hasting." Kelsier's smile began to form and by the time it finished forming Mare's staff had landed a powerful hit on Kelsier's own weapon as he blocked her strike. She soon followed up with another set, each attack Kelsier parried too easily. Kelsier held his own ground, before finally moving forward and attacking himself, pushing her back towards the edges of the building easily. _

_It was harder to see in the dark, but even with the advantage of tin Mare was getting beaten easily and soon she found herself at the edge of the building, the drop to the street below seemed very uninviting. She was also sweating hard, she saw Kelsier hadn't even broken a single bead and here she was breathing hard. She had to do better, and not just for Kelsier but for herself as well. _

_She attacked so suddenly, one end of her staff rose to strike his chest, but Kelsier parried it. It followed by a strike from above which Kelsier turned away just to face another strike from below. Another parry and then expecting the same strike from above Kelsier moved to block the strike. He left himself open for Mare, and she took it, kicking him with one foot in his chest he gasped out in pain and surprise. She wasn't done yet however and she brought her staff down on his back causing him to collapse on the roof. _

_Mare looked at the fallen Kelsier, he didn't move and Mare began to think she might have gone to far. "Kelsier?" she said quietly. _

_Kelsier waited until she was so close, peering over him before he grabbed his staff lying beside him and then struck, the end of his weapon hit her in the chest and Kelsier used the short time he had gained to stand up, his staff helped push him off the ground faster and on to his feet. Mare was still stunned as Kelsier began to spin his staff, advancing and then striking. The first strike knocked her staff aside, allowing Kelsier to break through her guard, the next strike pushed her back towards the edge. As Kelsier approached her Mare took a step back, and found nothing for her foot to brace against and she began to fall._

_Kelsier saw the danger, he dropped his own staff and bolted forward one hand out to grab her staff. His hand grasped the hard wood of the weapon and he pulled. It was a good thing Mare was light but Kelsier also had not realized how much strength he had put in to pulling her back up. Mare was carried by the momentum of Kelsier's pull, and she shot back towards the thief. Kelsier was unable to stop her as she suddenly slammed into Kelsier and they both went down onto the roof, Mare landing on top of Kelsier which cushioned her impact. Kelsier wasn't as lucky. He lay there winded, the breath gone from his body and Mare simply grinned and stayed where she was. It was only when Kelsier finally managed to push her off did she decide to move herself. _

_Kelsier saw her get up from the ground, walking back towards the edge to stare at the sleeping city. She looked down at the ash and Kelsier saw her hand go into one of the pockets in her pants. She pulled something out and Kelsier got to his feet and moved forward towards her approaching from behind and moving up beside her. She held what seemed to be a photo folded and creased so many times and very old. As Kelsier looked closer at the picture it seemed to be of a strange object. It looked like a plant but nothing like he had ever seen before. It's stock was no where near as thick as a regular plant and it looked so delicate like a simple touch would snap it. At the top of it was a small collection of leaves a different colour then the rest._

_Mare softly sighed to herself, muttering something under her breath that Kelsier couldn't hear before she turned to face Kelsier right beside her. The sight startled her, and she quickly began to fold the photo back up but Kelsier stopped her, putting his hand on hers. Slowly she allowed him to take the photo from her, slowly slipping it away from her tight grip. He unfolded it and looked at the photo once more, not knowing what he found so intriguing about it._

_"It's strange. It's nothing I've ever seen?" Kelsier asked as he looked at the photo._

_"It used to be like this, the whole world." Mare said sadly. "All before the time of the Lord Ruler so long ago. This was what some people called a flower, they were so common before his time. Do you know what I want Kelsier, what I want more then anything else in this world.?" She looked up at him and met his eyes, "The one thing I want to see come true Kelsier, I want to see the flowers green and the sky clear like they were before. I want to see the world like it had been the so called deepness, before the Lord Ruler, before the inquisitors, before we all became slaves and before our whole world became the slums we lived in. I didn't come for money Kelsier, I came to help cause as much pain to the Lord Ruler as possible. We may take away his riches but he took away the beauty this world once had. I don't care if he's the silver of infinity, it's probably just another title I'll go and steal." Kelsier looked at her in amazement, he had never once thought of the world any differently. She let out a shudder and it wasn't from the cold._

_Kelsier looked at her, the woman who had so long ago been nothing but another thief, a woman who had shown up at his door demanding training to join his crew. He closed his eyes as he slipped an arm around her, and pulled her close hugging her. Mare let out a gasp and Kelsier looked at her and he began to pull his arm away but she stopped him._

_"Tin." she said, as he looked at her. "It enhances all of the senses."_

_Kelsier felt himself smile, as he hugged her tight and he tried to imagine the world as Mare wanted to see it. _

_"One day," Kelsier said, " I promise we'll both help make that happen."_

Kelsier opened his eyes, his head hurt and his arms throbbed. The pain came to him as he awakened, the memory of Mare brought pain with it, merging with the pain of having the memory itself. He didn't understand why he had had it while he was sleeping. Wasn't it supposed to come only when you were awake? Kelsier sighed, he was arguing with something that made no sense in the first place. He waited a few moments on his palette and then he got up.

_One day I promise we'll both make that happen... _It was a promise he had made so long ago, a promise that he knew he wouldn't be able to keep.

There was no one in sight as Kelsier left his tent, moving towards the mess building. He sped up as he passed a prisoner on the ground to the side hidden between the tents, another prisoner held him down and another one was attacking him. He managed to make it to the mess without incident, and planned as he ate. He needed to relax but he knew he should go and find Mare, she was the one who he needed to apologize to. He knew he had been harsh to her and he knew it was time he made things right.

_She doesn't deserve it. _

Why his thoughts never seemed positive towards Mare, Kelsier didn't seem to understand. The pits changed people, everyone had heard that but Kelsier was determined to make sure it wasn't going to corrupt him. With that goal in mind, after he finished eating Kelsier set off to find Mare. However he couldn't help if he was delayed.

* * *

Kelsier fell to his knees in agony, his stomach hurt but soon a sudden pain in his back followed and he fell to the ground completely scattering the ash around him. The sixth day of the week and now he had finally been ambushed, Kelsier couldn't recall what had happened. He had been looking for Mare, not having been able to find her for the past few days and when he had finally spotted her walking away from the pits a few prisoners had decided to appear and attack him.

"Get up slave!" one of the prisoners called to him. "Look up at your masters from where you belong skaa!"

Kelsier made a mental note to deal with that one painfully, but first he had to get out alive. He twisted his head, and opened his eyes trying to find a place he could run to. Another pain greeted him from his back as he felt the boot of another prisoner hit him again.

"Be a good skaa and obey!" another one shouted.

Kelsier slowly looked up, one of them was standing right in front of him. _The legs. _The thought came and Kelsier reacted, his hands balled up and he struck out at the prisoner's legs in front of him. One fist struck, and then the second, the prisoner was weak and so he fell forward and Kelsier quickly rolled out of the way and pushed himself onto his feet.

The other two prisoners both looked weak and too proud for their own good. _Nobleman, _The quick curse came to his mind as he easily identified them. They came at him together, and Kelsier picked up some ash and rock from the ground and flung it at one of his attackers. The man raised his hands to cover his face while Kelsier moved to hit the other one. Kelsier avoided his only attacker at the moment, dodging the first attack before kicking the man between the legs. He went down and Kelsier turned to face the last man who was staring at his downed partner.

Kelsier approached him and as he walked the man slowly fell to his knees and begged for mercy, calling out for peace and surrender. Kelsier continued to walk towards the man, _No peace, no mercy for a nobleman. They all deserve to die. _The man was shaking now, and Kelsier stood before the man. "Nobleman." Kelsier spat and he grabbed the man's head and twisted it, breaking his neck and letting him fall to the ground. The other two prisoners still lay on the ground the one he had punched was trying to push himself to his feet but Kelsier knocked him back down.

_Kill them all, they tried to kill you. _Kelsier knelt down beside the man and looked at him struggling to get up. Kelsier quickly ended it with his fist, slamming it into the back of the man's neck. The last prisoner lay behind him and Kelsier turned to face him. This was the man Kelsier knew who had first called him a slave. _He's weak, only the strong live. _"Look up at your master nobleman." Kelsier said quietly. The man looked up at him scared and pitiful, a coward, a weakling. And then the situation hit Kelsier, what he was doing and his mind mentally staggered back from the reality of the situation.

_What am I doing? _Kelsier looked at the man, he was just another prisoner. A man like him who wanted to feel like his old life. He looked over at the dead prisoners. _No, _Kelsier stepped away from the man, turning in the direction Mare had gone. _He had killed to many today, he had begun to turn into the thing he feared. A Nobleman, killing without cause, no one had a rank here. They were all prisoners._

Kelsier walked away from the man, _Coward! _Kelsier heard the word inside his head but it didn't work without the meaning. He saw a woman approach him from the side, Leisha. He had forgotten about her over the weeks, and he had no reason to turn on her.

"Kelsier." She sounded as if she was finally relieved to find him. She also sounded frightened.

"What is it Leisha?"

"Kar took her...he took Mare." The words stunned Kelsier, Mare why would he go after Mare. She was fast but wouldn't last very well in a fight. "He ambushed her. He sent a messenger to me. He said to tell you to get her at the place this all started."

_This place where this all started? _It could be where he first took the geode from him. That was the only place that came to mind, the empty area that Kelsier remembered the Inquisitor easily defeated Kar. Or maybe...Tristan! And Kelsier dashed off back in the direction of his tent. _Please don't let me be too late._

_

* * *

_

"Why is it that you are so obvious Kelsier?" Kar asked. "You won't have your friends to help you."

Kar stood there holding Mare in the ground, her face buried in the ash in the place Kelsier had first met Kar, on his way towards his tent with Tristan and meeting Alex as well. Kelsier moved forward, knowing full well that as he walked closer to Kar, Kar's own personal men cut off all escape. Eight men including Kar.

Kelsier knew it was foolish, but he had to try anyway. _But is it worth dying for, is it worth casting yourself into oblivion. _Kelsier ignored the voice in his head, he kept walking until he stood face to face with Kar. And then he kicked the man's arm, the arm the held Mare to the ground. The impact caused Kar to grunt as he released her but with his other arm he grabbed Kelsier by his neck and picked him up off the ground.

"You should have known I would kill you Kelsier."

Kelsier knew his position but he couldn't help himself. "Why, didn't you know Kar, I'm invincible. Why do you think I'm here instead of dead in the Lord Ruler's palace? The mighty silver of infinity couldn't manage to kill me so what makes a pathetic weakling like yourself able to do what he can't?"

Kar ignored the remark, not showing any hint of the effect Kelsier had on him. He began to tighten his hold on Kelsier, slowly choking the life out of him. Kelsier tried breathing, he tried kicking the man but he might as well have faced a thug burning pewter. He was helpless against the strong man.

One of the prisoners standing guard shouted out and Kar loosened his hold enough to allow Kelsier to breath again. He heard a commotion behind him but he couldn't see. A man screamed in pain and finally Kar snarled like a rabid dog as he tossed Kelsier to the side and walked towards the disturbance. Kelsier struggled to lift himself off the ground, the ash he breathed in clogged his lungs and he looked at what was going on.

Leisha was holding a man by his arm holding him in an arm lock as she twisted it, and then brought her elbow down on it shattering it. As soon as Kar got there however Kelsier knew it was over, Leisha wasn't Alex and she was also not as young as him. Kar grabbed her arm as she tried to strike him, lifting her up and bringing her down into the ground grinding her face into the ground. He smiled as he worked, enjoying the pain he caused, the suffering that made him feel so much stronger. Then Kelsier saw Mare get up.

She had been watching the scene, and now she walked towards Kar. She was furious as she watched her friend getting hurt and one of the prisoners moved to stop her. She glanced once at the man standing in her way and then she punched him. Kelsier have expected the man to grab her arm or not even flinch from the contact, she wasn't a strong woman. He couldn't have been anymore wrong. Her fist smashed into the man and he screamed in pain as he grasped where she had struck. Kar turned to see her and he released Leisha to deal with her.

Kelsier forced himself to get up, he couldn't let her get hurt. Kar raised his arm and brought it down on Mare, Kelsier almost shut his eyes but if he had he would have missed the sight that came next. Mare blocked Kar's strike, grabbing it and pulling him towards her. She leaped into the air as he approached using his momentum and she lashed out with both feet striking his chest. Kar gasped out from the impact and as Mare fell to the ground, Kar stumbled backwards trying to regain his footing. He looked once at the men around him before calling them back. He looked at Kelsier once before leaving and Kelsier wasn't about to believe the man would give up that easily. Still he took the breather he was given and ran to Mare.

Leisha was helping Mare up by the time he arrived. He moved to help her, but Mare ignored his hand when he offered it. "Mare." Kelsier said. She turned towards him, and he saw the Mare he had once known in her features. The face he remember before the bruises and the beatings that had taken their toll on her at this place. All before it hardened on him.

"You left me Kelsier." Mare said almost as if she couldn't believe what she was saying, "You abandoned me." and she begun to walk away. It was more of a forced turn and there was a rush in her walk like she had to get away from him.

_What? _This was Mare, the woman who used to spend every day waiting for Kelsier to come back to her safely. The Mare who always insisted to stick by him in his fights, always come on the most dangerous of jobs. Kelsier shook his head, the pits were affecting her harshly. _You know the truth. _He wanted to make her believe him, he wanted to apologize but something stopped him. _Look she never cared for you. _Kelsier refused to believe that voice and the retreating figure of Mare made him say the words that had been in his mind all week. "I'm sorry Mare!" Kelsier cried. He thought he heard he stumbled, just a quick one but she regained her composure so fast.

"The Lord Ruler didn't show you any mercy Kelsier." Mare replied coldly, "Why should I?"

Kelsier closed his eyes once more, he turned away from her and walked away. _This is what happens. Nothing is true anymore. Everything is a lie. _

_That's not true... _Another voice said in his mind, it was quiet and no where near as powerful as the first.

_Everything she felt for you is a lie._

_She isn't...-_

"Kelsier!"

"Shut up!" Kelsier shouted out, cutting off the last voice and silencing everything around him. He sunk to his knees, his left arm burned from the fight and Kelsier couldn't continue to deal with it all building up in him. In the distance Kelsier could have sworn he heard a young woman crying, but he payed it no heed. He shouldn't have tried, he should have left it at that. But in the back of his mind, even the pits couldn't destroy the remenents of the thief that knew he was wrong. He got up, turned and ran, ran from the curses that plagued him. The pits were cursing him...damn him for thinking he was invincible. The Lord Ruler had finally found a weakness.


	6. Week 10: Manipulation

Week 10: Manipulation

_"A good soother or a rioter knows that emotional allomancy is far more then just allomancy. It's about the noble art of manipulation. Think about it, after all what is it when one man courts a woman. He tries to get her to like him, he is manipulating her emotions. The difference between us allomancers and regular people are that we're aware of what we're doing...and we have a slight advantage. Sure you can just fire off blasts of brass at a person hoping for the desired affect but a great soother such as myself knows that you have to be able to read your target, to know how they feel before their soothed." - Breeze_

_It was all his fault. Kelsier looked over at Ragg, the man was standing over the pits looking down at Alex. It was all his fault. Kelsier looked over back at Mare, dead on the ground. It was all his fault, she died because of him. He looked back over at Ragg, staring at Alex struggling to escape the pits. Ragg bent down his hand as if in invitation for Alex to grab. Kelsier slowly began to walk forward, coming up behind Ragg. It's all your fault. Alex tried to take hold of Ragg's hand, but Ragg just laughed as he moved his hand out of reach and then moved towards Alex's neck, grabbing hold of his pendent. He ripped it from the man's neck laughing as he took hold of his prize. It's all your fault. Kelsier held the knife in his hand, he had the choice. Ragg lifted his foot, the heavy boot rose into the air and he brought it down on Alex's hand. The man screamed in pain, but refused to release his grip. Kelsier saw his friend suffering, he had the knife in his hand but he held himself back. Ragg brought his foot down on the man's hand once more and Alex released one of his hands from the rocky edge of the pits. Alex looked up at Kelsier, silently begging him, but he turned away and began to walk. Kelsier heard Alex scream in pain, finally hearing the sound of Alex releasing his hold to life and falling into the pits embrace. It's all your fault._

Kelsier's eyes snapped open, the bells ringing through the contaminated air. Kelsier rose from his palette, throwing back the covers and getting up. He was still dressed in the same outfit he had worn since he had arrived, the torn shirt and pants that he had carried with him in this hell whole. Week ten, another week where Kelsier had to head back into the pits to search for a geode to stay alive one more week. _Lord Ruler... _Kelsier caught himself. He rarely cursed by the Lord Ruler anymore, he wasn't a supernatural power, Kelsier was sure of it. Even though the man claimed to be the silver of infinity Kelsier never believed it.

His arms hurt, they always did these days. He never looked at them since the beginning of his time here, the cuts, the wounds the blood the pain. He feared it would be enough to turn him completely insane. _As if I'm not already. _He hadn't had another memory attack in four weeks, but he knew they could be random. Last week he had seen a man suffer from one in the pits and fall to his death, not a way Kelsier wanted to die. _When I die, I want to be remembered, but then I'm already dead to everyone outside. _Breeze, Trap, Clubs, Ham, Dox, Marsh, all of the members of his crew. All of them probably thought he was dead.

"Wake up Kell." Kelsier looked over towards Alex, hearing him speak and seeing him up. "It's been four weeks Kell, maybe you should give her another chance."

Kelsier shook his head the events of the conflict between himself and Kar ended up with Mare finally rejecting him, accusing him for betraying her. He had never betrayed her, ever in his life.

"She turned on me Alex," Kelsier said, "She betrayed -"

"Shut up Kell!" Alex interrupted, almost annoyed. "You've said that Lord Ruler knows how many times, I think it's sunk in. You should -"

"Shut up yourself Alex." another voice interrupted. Kelsier looked over to see Gemmal in his pallet staring over at them. It was surprising, Kelsier never really talked to Gemmal and the man just ignored them most of the time.

"Burn in the blood of the Lord Ruler Gemmal." Alex retorted.

"Show some respect to your elders!" Gemmal snapped back. "I'm trying to get some sleep." With that Gemmal laid back down and tried to resume a comfortable position. "And Kelsier, make things right with that woman, It's getting annoying hearing all that betrayal nonsense." Gemmal finally stopped moving and within a few short seconds started snoring.

"As I was saying," Alex continued when he was sure he wasn't going to be interrupted again, "Go and speak with her. Remember you turned on her the first time, she could have just been trying to get even."

_Forget about her... _Kelsier looked up at Alex, not sure if he should. He felt that he shouldn't try and repair things with Mare, that he should just forget about her. _She doesn't want you, you were just a tool._

"I'm nothing to her Alex," Kelsier said sadly, "She doesn't care about, probably never did." _And you shouldn't care about her. _Kelsier felt himself begin to feel more normal after all why should he care. If Mare never cared about him then he shouldn't care about her. _She's nothing. _But part of Kelsier knew that that wasn't true.

"Listen to me Kelsier, trust me." Alex spoke, the words seemed to catch Kelsier's attention and he listened. "Give her one more chance, speak to her later probably after you come from the pits and while you're there I'll go check on her."

Kelsier suddenly felt himself agreeing with Alex, he was always a man who gave others a chance. He knew he was that kind of person, when he led his crew. He knew he had been changing and he also knew that if he didn't try to stay attached to his older self then he would lose that side. _But that's also the side that Mare betrayed. _Kelsier silently shook, now he didn't know, he wanted to be that same person but that thought, the thought that if he hadn't have been that person then Mare would never have betrayed him, never had the chance. But then what would have happened when you met Sazed and Breeze and the rest of your crew?Kelsier looked at Alex still unsure and Alex saw his worry.

"Trust me Kelsier, trust me like you have for the past month." Kelsier knew he should, even if his own thoughts argued with it but Kelsier was still that same man who gave chances and so he silently nodded, still not trusting himself to speak.

"Go then Kell, while you're in the pits I'll see what's wrong with Mare."

Kelsier got up from his palette and headed out his tent, making sure to stay away from Gemmal. The man never liked having his sleep disturbed, a recent memory of Gemmal threatening Lin to have her organs dismembered came to mind. Behind him Kelsier heard Gemmal sleep talk, "I'll become a mistborn and tear you apart with volcanic silver." Kelsier slowly smiled, the man might be half mad but at least it was amusing to hear him talk.

Kelsier slowly made his way to the pits, the ash always slowed his movement but today it seemed he was able to make his way through much more quickly. Kelsier didn't notice the falling ash that landed on him as he walked, he whistled out a tune that came to him as he thought of what he would say to Mare. _You're a fool! _Part of Kelsier trusted the voice, the other part resented it. His own thoughts betrayed him but at this moments Kelsier's positive side held dominant. That was until he came to the pits and the sight of the creature of Hathsin devouring a body.

The sight was sickening, the creature seemed to in lack of words, liquify and spread out across the whole body and dissolve it before retaining its original shape. But now it seemed to have taken a new form. The bone's of it's torso were easily seen as it had six arms sprouting out from it. The creature had two legs and the wings of a large bird with the head of a wolf hound. It's eyes seemed to be hallow as if there was no soul there, probably the thing that scared most prisoners. The tale that went around camp these days was that the creature had once been a tormented group of animals and people at the very beginning that had tried to destroyed the Lord Ruler. The Lord Ruler had instead formed the pits of Hathsin and merged the whole group together destroyed the souls of the group and setting it as a guard for the pits, it's soul task was to devour the bodies of the humans trying to seek a soul for its body so it could be released from it's eternal agony. Everyone stayed clear of the creature, no one knew what it was. Everyone still believed that the creature would readily devour a live human as well as a dead human if it was given the chance.

Kelsier stayed clear of the creature, avoiding the coming and going prisoners. They all avoided the creature as if it emitted its own dark aura that radiated away from it, pushing the prisoners away from it. Kelsier hurried on, he saw all of the prisoners heading in despite it still being the beginning of the day. Many prisoners went in before the gong sounded to wake them all up, and Kelsier would rather the search in the pits not take any longer then it must.

He approached the pits, his hands began acting of their own accord as they unwrapped the bandages that covered his arms. They peeled away as Kelsier kept walking not looking at his own bloody hands, he could see well enough what other prisoners looked like. The crisscrossed cuts and scars on their arms, the scraps on their legs and the deep gashes along their faces, Kelsier knew it was likely he would look as bad.

Finally the bandages were off and Kelsier stood looking over the edge of the pits into the darkness. The darkness that threatened to swallow him whole. Kelsier felt the same sensation he had begun to feel over the past few weeks come, the feeling of danger, of pain of sorrow. The feeling that if he went in their he may not be coming out. He forced himself to calm down, to take one breath after another as his arms wrapped his blood soaked bandages around his chest, tying them to keep them from coming off. Then with a deep breath he pushed away the terrifying feeling he felt and slowly lowered himself into the pits, his hands on each side of the walls, he twisted and turned, the sharp edges of the rocks scrapped against him as he moved downward. Somewhere a fresh cut opened and blood trickled down his side.

Down he went, slowly and slowly into the darkness. Strange it seemed that here of all places his thoughts remained still. It was probably because of the focus he needed to remain alive, the focus he needed to lower himself deeper into the pits without falling to his death. His feet seeking out footholds while his hands sought out the crevices in the sides of the walls that he could grab hold of. It was silent here, cold and dark, Kelsier could barely see as he went deeper and he could barely make out the outlines of his arms. The feeling returned but once again Kelsier forced it aside, he wouldn't allow it to shake him.

Thoughts of Mare finally began to come to him, deep in the pits. They acted like a beacon of hope to him, it helped drive away the darkness he felt. Here Kelsier had no need to worry about the dark thoughts that came to him when he thought of Mare, here he could think of the woman before everything had happened that had taken everything away from him. Here he could forget about the Lord Ruler and what he had said. Here he was alone with thoughts of Mare and his task to find a geode.

He went deeper and deeper, one time his hand caught a loose hold and the rock he grasped broke off, falling and hitting his head leaving a bruise before falling down. No one knew how far the pits went and no one wanted to try reaching the bottom. Some people were said to have only tried if they had never found a geode knowing they faced death either way.

An opening appeared to his searching hands, they were far more familiar to him after the numerous times he had spent down here. Instead of a regular opening that sprouted from the side as he had first thought it was actually a crystal like object that moved from the edge to the centre and bent in to form a sharp jagged edge. It was part of a ring of the same crystals that formed into a small opening that was almost as wide as Kelsier's fist. Sometimes however there was a regular small opening and at the end of that opening this crystal like edges would appear to show that there might be a geode. Kelsier felt himself readjust his body so his arm could be used to shift into the hole. Then with a silent prayer he slammed his arm in up to elbow the jagged spikes of the crystals drew bleeding gashes along his arm. When he finally came to the opening at the end of the tunnel that the ring of crystals guarder his hand only felt the plant like object and no prism rock like shape. There was no geode in this opening. Kelsier withdrew his arms, wincing from the pain.

Kelsier began to descend once more, his hands still searching for any openings in the walls. His right hand found one quickly and Kelsier repositioned himself once more. He lifted his arm and began to slide it in, carefully avoiding the rocks inside the small hole. Kelsier pushed farther in until his hand suddenly came to a stop, the passage way was blocked and Kelsier could go no further. With a sigh Kelsier tried shifting a bit to allow better access for his arm to get out of the opening but his foot stepped on a loose rock and it broke off. Kelsier felt himself lose his footing and suddenly he began to fall once more, the wind screamed against his ears as the rocks slashed bloody gashes across his arm as it was pulled from the opening. The rocks dug into Kelsier's back, cutting through his already torn shirt , and into his back. Kelsier closed his eyes, forcing back the pain as he had done so many other times. His left arm suddenly stopped, as if it had been trapped by something and almost at once Kelsier felt himself stop, his head slammed against the back wall and for a moment Kelsier couldn't think or feel anything. The dust that had risen from his decent floated around the dark departed air and found its ways into Kelsier's lungs, he coughed trying to clear them before he was able to make sense of what had just happened.

His left arm felt as if it had been pulled from its socket, Kelsier's back burned and he felt the blood pouring from his body. He didn't know how long it had been but he refused to give up. He never gave up, he couldn't give up. The pits would not defeat him, Kelsier swore, He would not let them beat him. Feeling reinvigorated Kelsier made sure his footing was secure before he began to search around him, looking for an opening in the rocky wall.

Another sound echoed above him, the sound of rocks breaking and a few moments later a score of rocks flew down from above, Kelsier ducked his head in as far as he could as the rocks hit the top of his head and his shoulders, a few brushing by him. _Probably another prisoner, _Kelsier thought _lost his footing like me. _He resumed his search not knowing how much time was passing by.

* * *

Kelsier made his way back to the surface empty handed, his muscles cried out as his arms, his legs burned in agony as he pushed against the rocky walls. It wasn't the first time he thought he would die down here and he was sure it wasn't going to be the last. _The pits are just another challenge. _Kelsier beat back the pain, he didn't know how far he climbed, he didn't know how long he climbed, all he knew was that he was climbing in a direction that he desperately hoped was leading to the surface.

Kelsier soon began to hear voices in the caverns, echoing off the walls. They were off to the side of him and even though Kelsier couldn't understand the words he could tell by the tone it wasn't a very pleasant conversation. The exchange grew louder and louder before one voice abruptly fell silent. The other voice seemed to continue speaking and Kelsier moved away from the sound, hoping he wouldn't by any chance attract the speakers attention.

Kelsier continued his climb, before it was simply ignoring the pain, not letting it win. Now, it was a battle, each time he moved his arms or his legs, his will was in full effect to continue on. Whenever he felt like he would be overcome, like he would fall to his death or just wait here and die, Kelsier knew he wouldn't accept that. He couldn't accept it. He moved on, the climb began to get easier but the work just got harder, Kelsier still pressed on determined. He passed others on his way up, some had given up which was unusual since most people waited until the end of the week before they actually surrendered. But Kelsier, he wouldn't surrender, if he body protested, Kelsier forced it down. Kelsier never surrendered.

It had felt like years had come and gone, maybe even centuries. Kelsier knew it wouldn't be possible for it to be that long so he reasoned a year might have passed, or perhaps half a year. Still Kelsier decided to occupy his thoughts with other things. Mare, Alex and the pits. Eventually even Kelsier felt rather tired out at putting the whole blame of the failed operation at the Lord Ruler's palace at Mare's feet. Alex was right after all, why else would Mare be here, she wouldn't have been sent here if the Lord Ruler was accepting her help. But then what happened between them while Kelsier was sent here. Kelsier soon gave up on that as well, whatever had happened between the Lord Ruler and Mare was long gone. It had no affect on what would happen in the pits, now what the time to make right to every wrong before it was too late. Each week Kelsier face death and he knew he would regret not setting things straight with Mare while he could.

Kelsier began to hear voices once more, but these voices weren't as loud as he had heard in the pits, they didn't echo off the walls as much and they seemed to belong to numerous people. The air that had once been so damp and desolate, empty and dry seemed to lighten as he moved up. Hope filled Kelsier once more and soon he began to see the tiny bits of sunlight hitting the pits. He climbed ignoring everything his body wanted, and finally he began to see the actual opening of the pits. Relief hit Kelsier, he wouldn't die in this place. He would survive, that's what he was, a survivor, he wouldn't let the pits win.

The opening came closer and closer and finally Kelsier's hand broke the surface and grasp the edge of the pits. He found a good foothold for his feet and then Kelsier swung his other arm up and grasped onto the edge and slowly began to push himself up with his feet as he pulled with his arms. He struggled, shaking visible as he rose. His head broke the surface, his hair at first and then his nose and finally his mouth. But then his arms gave way and Kelsier felt his arms weaken and he fell. His legs that had lifted off the ground at the time fell back, his weight hitting his footholds but the impact broke off the sturdy rock making Kelsier slip even more. The only holding Kelsier was his hands that still grasped the edges of the rock.

He could do it, Kelsier knew he could. He began to pull once more, wincing from the agony that came, the sheer force of pain. He wanted to call out for help, to cry for it but Kelsier knew it wouldn't come. He was just another prisoner here, no other prisoner would help him. He meant nothing to them. He would remain meaning nothing if he stayed down here. But no matter how hard he tried Kelsier felt his grip weaken. He would fall into the pits if he didn't get up soon. _If I don't get up soon... _Kelsier realized. _I'll still mean nothing to Mare. _The shock of the last realization hit him and Kelsier kicked out with his legs, reaching out to brace himself on the walls of the pits before kicking off and pulling. It was as if the thought alone gave him the power to do lift himself up.

His head broke the surface once more, then his neck. His arms outstretched he grasped the rocks that jutted out from around the pits and used it to keep himself from falling back. Kelsier looked ahead, as his left arm burned, far more then his right from the effort. Something glinted from his peripheral vision but when Kelsier looked in the direction it was gone. _You're losing it Kell. _Kelsier shook his head, he wouldn't fall victim to the pits, he wouldn't!

A shadow loomed over Kelsier, he looked up and he saw the hulking body of Kar. "Hello Kelsier." Kelsier looked down he was so close. The shadow however seemed to belong to a smaller person, Kelsier looked back up to see Kar sneering at him. Kelsier shut his eyes and shook his head, he was going insane. He opened them again and he was confronted by Ragg. "Kelsier. You need a hand?"

_Ragg offering help? I am insane. _Kelsier didn't bother to question Ragg's help as he held out his hand for Kelsier. Kelsier lifted one hand, his right one, towards Ragg hoping Ragg could pull him out before gravity dragged him back down. But then Kelsier saw the glint in Ragg's eyes, the same glint that came over someone who was going to get their dearest wish and Kelsier couldn't do anything about it. Ragg took hold of his hand and then with his boot kicked out hitting Kelsier on his forehead. The impact was enough to make Kelsier move slowly towards the pits. He was falling, he was dying.

"Have fun thief" Ragg spat as he turned away and walked on as if nothing had happened.

Kelsier was down to his neck in the pits, then his head, then his nose and he was falling. Something grabbed him, his arms were being pulled on as he fell and Kelsier felt his decent stop. A burst of pain greeted him and Kelsier wondered if he was bound to die, it could happen a bit less painfully. Kelsier felt himself rise slowly, and as soon as the top half of his body was free of the pits Kelsier saw his rescuer. Gemmal.

"Seriously, is something wrong with you Kelsier? I would have thought you would have been able to pull yourself out this being a daily thing for you."

Kelsier could tell Gemmal was just trying to take his mind off what was going on but somehow it suddenly made him angry. _After what I've been through. _"Shut up Gemmal!" Kelsier snapped back, not knowing why he was feeling so angry. He was hurting but that wasn't a good enough reason. _He should suffer. _The thought shocked Kelsier, but it was one of those many thoughts he wouldn't act on. He knew Gemmal was helping and yet he felt as if his rescuer should be in pain. _He planned it._ Another thing Kelsier refused to believe. Or so he hoped.

"Now Kelsier." Gemmal said as he pulled Kelsier out of the pits, his mood suddenly switched . "What was that all about. I try to help and this is the thanks I get. Next time, I let you die."

The man spoke so angrily that Kelsier wondered what had happened to Gemmal. He looked as if he had always but there was something different about him.

"Ragg kicked me." Kelsier said as Gemmal finally got him completely out of the pits and onto the ash.

"I didn't see nothing." Gemmal replied, "All I saw was you holding on to the rocks and then you suddenly released your hold and began to fall. I'm hoping you didn't have a death wish?"

Kelsier lay their puzzled, Gemmal hadn't seen anything and at first Kelsier thought he had seen Kar, but instead it had turned out to be Ragg. _No! _Kelsier wouldn't believe his mind was conjuring up images just for him. It had to be real!

"Take a rest Kelsier." Gemmal said quietly, "I have to go, but don't worry. I'll be here when you most need me." Gemmal looked up and Kelsier followed his gaze towards an empty space. "I'm coming. Some people should learn patience." Gemmal finished mumbling to himself.

* * *

Kelsier was waling towards the tents, the mists were out and every part of Kelsier hurt. He couldn't walk, talk, or even shift his head without it hurting. Every part of him was on fire, the only thing Kelsier could hope for now was that Alex had learned what had made Mare so upset with him. She had barely spoken a word to him since their last encounter four weeks ago, when she did they weren't that friendly. She finally began to flat out ignore him and avoid him. Kelsier didn't understand that much but he knew this wasn't that Mare he had known before. Just like he wasn't the Kelsier everyone else had known.

Kelsier walked alone, Gemmal had taken off leaving him to deal with his pain. Before he went Gemmal gave Kelsier a small powdery object that he had told him to eat. As soon as Kelsier had the pain had become a lot more bearable but still Kelsier found that everything still hurt a lot. As soon as he was able Kelsier had gotten up and began to walk back to his tent, he had wrapped his arms up as well, knowing full well that the amount of blood he had lost should have killed him. Right now however he was feeling light headed and dizzy, it was best he got back to his palette.

He managed to make it back to his tent without incident, slowly dragging himself to the safest shelter in this place. He still felt weak but now his legs began to wobble, Kelsier pushed on but collapsed as he made it to his tent. He began to crawl towards the opening but stopped when he heard voices. Two voices.

"Are you sure?" One of the voices said, it was a female voice and Kelsier couldn't place it for a moment. "I don't usually act like this, I just hope Kelsier -"

"It's okay. Come back in a few days when you're ready." Another voice interrupted. Kelsier recognized the voice, Alex.

"Okay, I just hope I'll feel a lot better when you're finished. I hope you know what you're doing. " Kelsier opened the the covers to the tent a bit so he could peak in. The female's voice belonged to Mare, of course. Kelsier looked closer to see Alex sitting on his palette and Mare facing away from him pulling on her shirt to cover the top half of her body. Her face was wet, she had been sweating and her shirt looked a bit damp.

_They had their talk all right. _Kelsier stared at them before closed the flaps and rolling over to the side so he was behind the tent. He felt the pain from all his wounds burn through him but the one that hurt the most, the one that blazed clearly in his mind didn't come from any cut or gash or any other physical wound. _Why? Lord Ruler why!_

Kelsier felt himself breathing harder as he heard the tent flap open and someone walked out. Kelsier looked and saw Mare walk by fully dressed. _Is this what you want! _Kelsier silently cursed.

_I could be wrong, I might not have seen it all. _Kelsier tried to convince himself.

_You saw all you needed to, they'll all betray you. It's all your fault. _

_No!_

_It's all your fault!_

Kelsier felt himself clutching his head, the pain growing bigger and bigger, his head was pounding. _It's all your fault! _It felt like something was tearing inside his mind, his left arm that had been heavily injured burned along with his head.

_No!_

Something flashed inside his head, and Kelsier struggled to hold it back.

_It's all your fault!_

Kelsier opened his mouth in a silent scream.

_No!_

_" I Trusted you Kelsier!" Mare shouted. Her voice rocketed off the walls in the empty room, the sound rebounding until it sounded as if it was coming from everywhere. There was only one way out of the cell like barren room where Mare lay, chained to one end of the wall. Her arms and legs both were chained, only her head remained free to move. In the center stood Kelsier, his eyes looked at Mare, a sadness shone in them that she never expected to see after what she had seen him do. She lowered her head, unable to let Kelsier see the wet tears that formed at the rim of her eyes."Why?" She asked softly, "You treated me like you cared?" _

_"I do care." Kelsier replied just as softly. He walked slowly towards her, kneeling down beside her. _

_"I thought you cared more then the rest." She corrected, refusing to look at him._

_Kelsier raised a hand towards her, resting it on her shoulder. "I don't." he said. He could see a spare tear leave her left eye, running a short way down her cheek before stopping. He wiped it off her face gently with his hand and she flinched as soon as his hand touched her. "I need you more then the rest. If you leave we can always find another tineye. But I won't be able to find someone to pull me back from dying. I need you there because you're the only one who keeps me from doing one of the top things on my stupidist things to do list." He felt Mare soften as she raised her head to look at him. Her eyes still shone with the faint trace of the liquid in her eyes. Kelsier held her gaze as she looked at him._

_"And what is that?" she asked._

_"Seeing if I can kill an Inquisitor." Kelsier replied bluntly. Mare let out a short laugh, barely managing to surpress it, but the sadness in her voice still remained, mixed within the laughter. _

_"What's second?" Mare asked cautiously._

_"Making sure the next time I flirt with a girl, the chances of you hearing it are less then none." Kelsier replied._

_"I'm afraid to ask what's third?" _

_Kelsier cracked a smile as he replied, "Taking romantic advice from Breeze."_

_Mare reluctantly let a smile show on her face before it dissapeared and she looked at him in a more serious way. "So then it was Breeze who told you that it would be so romantic of you to leave me chained to the wall while you sit their grinning like a young stable boy._

_A short pause filled the air as Kelsier slowly processed the words before quickly producing the key and unlocking the bindings that held Mare. "Sorry?" He said weakly._

_As soon as you Mare was free she shook off the manacles and wrapped her arms around Kelsier. "You're late." she said and Kelsier smiled. "Wipe the smile off you face pretty boy." She snapped, speaking without even bothering to look at Kelsier's face to respond. "Just make sure you're not another skaa who goes around only wanting to bed women. I hate those filthy creatures!"_

_Kelsier stiffened in result and Mare looked at him curiously. "What?" she asked._

_Kelsier looked at her before responding very carefully. "We're going to see one of those filthy creatures soon. His name's Ruddeou, I've heard people say he's a good smoker but I'm not sure if I want him on my crew."_

_It was Mare's turn to stiffen, a disgusted look appeared on her face. "Not Ruddeou. I swear that skaa is worse then filth. I don't care what people say about him, I hate that creature." Mare started to shake in his arms and Kelsier tightened his hold. "The last time I...I saw him." She swallowed, speaking like a terrified child reliving a horrible memory. "We didn't part ways on decent terms."_

_"What happened?" Kelsier asked, concerened._

_"Nothing." Mare replied, quickly composing herself before releasing Kelsier moving to leave. Kelsier followed and let the matter drop._

Kelsier slowly opened his eyes, it was night out and he lay in the ash surrounded by the mist. Kelsier tried to lift himself up, grunting from the agony. Slowly he managed to rise to his feet and he walked into his tent. Alex was there with Lin sitting on his palette seemingly oblivious to everyone around them. He looked so content, so happy as if she was the only reason he was here. _Was I imagining it? _Kelsier questioned himself. After all apparently he had imagined Ragg kicking him. Ragg looked up at him and Kelsier easily saw the surprise in his face. _No that was real, Gemmal was just having another blank moment. _Gemmal was no where to be seen, and Doxtun was busy fast asleep.

Kelsier slowly walked to his own palette and dropped into it, ignoring the looks he got from everyone around him. He shut his eyes and he drifted off.

* * *

"It's just another day." Kelsier muttered quietly to himself. "Just another _bloody _day!" with that Kelsier slammed his arm into the small hole in the middle of the jagged teeth of crystal spikes. The cuts sliced through his skin like knife on silk, drawing blood that Kelsier couldn't see. His hand searched the inside, and still he found no geode. Kelsier shook as he withdrew his arm, and began to climb back to the surface. It didn't take him that long, Kelsier had already been on his way when he had attempted that whole.

Kelsier made his way up to the surface, pulling himself out. He was careful not to strain his muscles since he was sure they hadn't fully healed yet. He had spent two days from going inside the pits, the valley he was in was his prison not the cracks in the ground. Today however he still hadn't found a geode, and he wasn't sure he would. Once again his arms began to burn as he escaped the caverns underground, his left arm still seared him with agonizing pain, and Kelsier was still unsure as to what damage the pits had done to it since his last attempt.

There was someone coming up beside him, Kelsier noticed. Alex, he was panting as he pulled himself up. He was shaking and he fell, his hands clinging to the rocks so he wouldn't fall down. Kelsier walked over intending to help, Alex looked up glad to see a friend. He was exhausted and he didn't know if he had the strength to get up.

_Look at him. _Kelsier looked, he saw his friend. _He said he would talk with Mare. _Kelsier stopped in his tracks. _He did more then talk._

"Kelsier!" Alex called out, he saw his hesitation.

_Come back in a few days..._

Anger, the pain, the hurt it burned inside him, all of it rising into him blocking out his thoughts. He walked forward again but he couldn't see so well. His blood thumped in his skull, he couldn't hear all he could do was act.

"Kelsier!" It was just another voice, just a voice that Kelsier couldn't hear.

Kelsier stood over Alex, he looked at the man who was gripping onto the rocks. He was loosing his grip and he was going to fall, he looked up at Kelsier wondering what was happening. Kelsier knelt down beside him, his hands formed a fist. He saw Alex's mouth move but the words were lost to Kelsier, _Kill him! _Kelsier raised his fist, raising it to strike at Alex, all he could was watch Kelsier prepare to strike him. _Murder him!_ Kelsier swung his fist as Alex began to fall.

_He didn't betray you! _The lone voice broke through Kelsier's mind and suddenly Kelsier's fist opened up into a hand that grabbed Alex as he fell. _You're imagining it. _Kelsier pulled, helping his friend up out of the pits.

"Next time," Alex said between breaths. "Save me before I think I'm going to die."

The haze lifted around him Kelsier was shocked at what he had almost done. "Sorry" Kelsier said with a shrug, "My arms hurt."

* * *

_They grew in wide circular patters, they started off small near the edges but grew bigger near the centre. At the direct middle of the circular pattern the crystals curved in to form a pocket like hollow in the wall. It was here they grew long and formed sharp jagged edges one of them like sharp teeth that lined the inside of the mouth of a terrible creature. In the centre of the pocket should be a rock like prism like object, that's what you need. A Hathsin Geode._

Kelsier muttered the phrase back to himself over and over again as he searched the walls. Day five, and still he had no luck. He kept on searching and searching his hands running over the rock walls as he climbed. The walls where he was were so close together that Kelsier had to struggle to move between them, squeeze and shift through every small amount. Everywhere he felt the edges of the rocks in the walls scratching him but all he could do was just keep going. He crawled up after spending an endless amount of time in the caverns he knew the mists would be out soon and the taskmasters would kill anyone who came out after the mists were out. He still had no idea why, why wouldn't they allow the prisoners to keep searching.

He continued climbing and managed to crawl into a bigger opening still moving up. His hands felt something beside him, and he paused. It was soft, not an opening probably another dead prisoner. Kelsier moved on. Hands always searching, brushing along the walls, feeling the cracks, the rocks and unnaturally smooth crystals, the-

Kelsier moved his fingers back along the path they were at as he moved downward until he felt the crystal like buds in the rock wall. No rocks just a regular opening. Kelsier followed them along until they bent in and formed a small hole. Kelsier took in a deep breath and then plunged his arm into the hole, the jagged spikes of the crystals that guarded the whole dug into his arm and Kelsier let out a wordless scream. His hands searched around, but they fell on another empty hole.

Kelsier walked slowly away from the pits heading back towards his tent. His back stung, after he had gotten out of the pits he had fallen into the ash where one of the taskmasters whipped him for staying still. He made it back to his tent quickly as he avoided all the fights that broke out. The guards didn't really care as long as they didn't see it, sometimes they decided to go after someone if they killed another prisoner but if it happened in the pits, it was fair game.

He passed Lin on his way heading away from his tent which was odd since she usually kept to the tent when the mists came out. She was still paranoid about the mists even after spending all the time she had out in them but he forgot about it as he drew closer. His tent lay ahead the sight reminded him of the palette that was inside. He had long grown used to the hard surface and after spending the day in the pits it would feel like his old bed back in Luthadel. Kelsier's eyes dropped to the ash in front as he approached the entrance to the tent and suddenly his ears picked up a short muffled scream coming from inside. Kelsier almost broke into a run but his ears caught another sound. Another voice.

"It's a good thing you got your geode today Mare." It was Alex, and Kelsier could guess who the scream had belonged to.

"Yeah, I honestly don't think I would have been able to go into the pits tomorrow. What are you going to do with?"

"I'll put it here for now, I'll find a way to get rid of it later."

Kelsier stayed at the entrance of the tent. He wasn't sure if his mind was playing tricks on him once again but he wanted to hear what was happening. He hoped he was wrong.

"What's this?" Kelsier heard Alex ask.

"New uniform, the guards are giving it to the people who bring their geodes in."

"Well its a good thing about that then. I was kind of worried about how you would take it when you remembered that I'd torn your old uniform apart."

_Look at them. _Kelsier peeked in through the tent flap, Alex was sitting on his palette picking up the discarded remains of what Kelsier thought was Mare's old clothes. Mare was dressing up in her new outfit, a dark nondescript brown coloured outfit, consisting of a shirt and pants. Her shoes had been replaced with a crude makeshift pair of unidentifiable material.

"Here." Alex said holding out the remains of her clothes to her. "Keep trying Mare, even if it doesn't work now it will later."

"Thanks Alex." Mare replied, "It's a good thing you know what you were doing. I hope this works, if it does, that maybe i might be able to forgive myself. But only if he forgives me. "

"Go," Alex urged getting up and leading her to the exit. Kelsier retreated into the dark between the tents. Mare stepped out a moment later and she hurried away, Kelsier's gaze followed her.

_He'll suffer, I swear I'll make him suffer. _This time Kelsier didn't try and stop the thoughts as they resurfaced.

* * *

Day six, Kelsier sat at one of the tables in the kitchens building. Lin sat across from him seemingly undisturbed. She unconsciously sipped the murky liquid that was their breakfast, undisturbed by the taste, her mind elsewhere. Suddenly she looked up from her meal and stared straight at Kelsier, the sudden gesture sent a shiver down his spine as he sipped his own meal. The food was barely enough to keep him alive but by now his body had adjusted, he was able to ignore the taste and the smell.

"Alex seemed off for the past few days. Do you know why?" Lin asked.

Kelsier choked on his food, part of it coming back up and out of his mouth. Lin moved away reflexively. "Mare's been in the tent twice." Kelsier replied, not knowing why he was telling Lin this. It was just speculation after all _You know it's true. _Kelsier didn't bother arguing. "Each time I've seen her dressing, exhausted and the last time she was thanking him."

Lin seemed a bit undisturbed by the events, and then suddenly she cursed out loud. Nobody payed any attention to her, the prisoners around her were used to the random curses that flew around the place.

"He told me to leave last night. That I should go to the pits and find Dox. He said he might need his help but he never gave a specific reason."

Kelsier expected as much, he had wondered why Lin was out that night. "I heard what he said Lin, he said he would talk to Mare for me. He _talked _alright, and he got a pleasant response I'm guessing."

Lin began to suddenly shake, almost as suddenly she stopped. "Alex wouldn't do that to me." she said firmly.

"I saw what I saw." Kelsier replied. _I wish I never laid eyes on her. I couldn't trust her, and it seems I can't trust Alex either. _

Lin lowered her head making it impossible to read her face, but he could guess what she was feeling. _Betrayal, lost, alone. It happens. _

"Go." Lin said quietly to him. "Please just go."

Kelsier didn't say anything, she was unstable he found out that much and she was trying to cope with this new piece of news. He quickly finished his meal and then got up and walked towards the exit. Alex entered and he seemed a bit reserved, as if he was guilty of something. Kelsier looked back and he saw Lin looking at him as well, and he knew she saw it as well. Kelsier left it at that and left the building heading for the pits, he had to find a geode, his days were numbered but he wasn't ready to die.

By the time Kelsier came out of the pits that day he had had time to think, to calm down from his anger and the rage he had felt the night before. Even while he was cursing as he squeezed through the tight caverns at least the pits managed to allow him to feel different. His thoughts seemed to be that of who he was before he came here, not what he was becoming. He had managed to cool the flame that had risen and he was calm. He was still going to confront Mare and Alex, but they had to have a good explanation. Something that made sense. _They have to._

_Or do they..._

Kelsier made his way back to his tent, another day empty handed. If he didn't get a geode tomorrow, he would die. Already he saw those who had come up empty handed today muttering about trying an escape. It was useless, Kelsier knew it, no mere man could get through the defences. The pits probably had coinshots at every gate. Coinshots, the mistings that burned iron to push on metal. That was all he knew of the metal, no one he remembered in his crew had been able to burn iron or its pair Steel.

Two men ran across in front of him, they were new. Kelsier remembered them faintly, they had come last week. Twins, they never went anywhere without each other. Not even the pits. They looked identical, short blond hair, clean shaven and normally sized. The only way you could tell them apart was the scars. The one on the left was Conrad, his scar was across his forehead and the right side of his face. He was the voice of the two. The second one was Raisor. His scar was across his throat, it had crushed his windpipe so he was unable to speak, so people claimed. The two had been plantation skaa sent here after they tried to rescue a young woman from their master. He had beaten them soundly in return and sent them here.

The men moved past, and Kelsier continued on his way coming to his tent and waited a moment trying to hear if there was anyone inside. The only voices that came out were those that belonged to Doxtun and Alex so Kelsier assumed that Mare wasn't coming back here tonight. His opened the tent flap and let himself in, the scene before him shocked him.

Ragg was laying on his bed plainly ignoring everything around him, by his side was a large metal stand. Doxtun was sitting on Lin's palette next to Alex who held a shaking Lin in his arms. There was a fresh wound on her side that Kelsier noticed, it was bandaged but it looked damp, and Kelsier could guess how. Ragg was the only one between Alex and Doxtun who didn't shift their heads to look at Kelsier. They glared at him, Doxtun looked furious but when Kelsier looked at Alex, the fire that was there dwarfed the fear he had felt that day in the Lord Ruler's presence when he had been condemned.

"You bastard!" Alex's voice was barely under control, Kelsier could see that clearly. Alex rose from where he sat, releasing his hold on Lin and walking towards Kelsier. "You damned bastard!" Alex's voice began to rise. His gaze shifted a bit and he shouted, "Not now Leisha!" Kelsier turned to see Leisha behind him back down under Alex's glare. "Why the hell did you do it!" Kelsier turned back to face Alex his own anger rising, quickly forgetting everything he had gone over in the pits. Alex stopped before Kelsier. Even though the dark skinned man only came up to his eyes, the man made it look like he was far stronger. "Is this what you want! Is this-"

_I've had enough! _Kelsier's body took control, he lost control of his mind for an instant and that instant Kelsier made a terrible mistake. "Shut up!" Kelsier shouted interrupting Alex mid sentence, punctuating his line with a balled up fist to his stomach as hard as he could manage. Alex choked off and the whole room that had already seemed quiet descended to something that Kelsier could only refer to as deathly silent.

Alex straightened up and his eyes burned. Everyone in pits knew about Alex, Kelsier had seen Alex fight. Few people actually challenged Alex, fewer went in thinking they could win, fewer actually stood a chance. Even fewer lived through the experience and finally at the end, even fewer actually managed to win. Kelsier easily knew he this was a fight he had long since lost, this fight Kelsier knew, he was dead already. But Kelsier also knew he never gave up and so in the short instance that the whole thing was silently made public to the people in the tent, Kelsier braced himself for Alex's fury. He was unprepared.

The fire in Alex's eyes were nothing compared to the speed of his strikes, his fists hit him everywhere, Kelsier tried to defend himself but there was no way he could. He felt himself pushed back by the force of one of Alex's strikes and Kelsier tried to land a punch, Alex caught the arm and twisted it causing Kelsier to bend over in pain to avoid having his arm snapped. Kelsier could barely see, he was angry, he was furious, a red haze covered his eyes and his blood thumped in his ears blocking out his hearing. The next thing that Kelsier felt was Alex's foot on his back bringing his body to the floor.

Kelsier coughed, blood came out of his mouth. His eyes searched the ground looking for something he could use. He saw something glint under Alex's palette, it must have been a weapon. He felt Alex's hand on the back of his neck, on his torn shirt pull him up. The cloth choked him, and Kelsier coughed even more, this was his chance. He barely heard someone call his name, he felt Alex shift his attention and Kelsier used the small chance he had to break Alex's hold on him.

Kelsier twisted while using his left arm to hit Alex's arm that was holding him. His reach was off however and so his arm only brushed the dark man's arm. Alex seemed startled for a second and Kelsier used it to use his other arm to strike out at Alex's weakest spot. _All's fair in love and war. _Kelsier's fist connected between Alex's legs and the man who could possibly endure so much punishment let out a yell as he fell to his knees. Kelsier knew he didn't have long so he rushed over to Alex's palette and grasped the object and pulled, it came free and the full sight of the weapon appeared to him.

It was a spike, almost as long as from the tips of his finger to a bit up his forearm and the edges were covered in dry blood. Kelsier didn't bother to question his luck at finding the weapon as he flipped it in his hand and grasped it in a backhand manner. Alex came from behind him and Kelsier was ready, spinning and swiping out at the same time, the spike cut into Alex's thigh and his eyes widened in surprise. The man fell to one leg and once again he flipped the spike in his hand so it was right side up. He felt someone grab his shoulder but he spun around and grasped the shirt of his next attacker and threw her across the tent, she hit her head on the metal stand by Ragg's palette and fell to the floor.

Kelsier turned to face Alex once more, he had backed up to his palette, fear shone in his eyes. His mouth moved as Kelsier approached him but Kelsier couldn't hear his words. Someone moved between him and Alex, blocking his view of the man he would soon punish. Kelsier looked up to see Ragg, he stood firm. No matter what happened Kelsier knew Ragg would defend Alex, but to Kelsier he was just another traitor, another person who deserved to die. Kelsier stepped forward and Ragg moved to stop him, his right arm moving to hold Kelsier off, Kelsier swung his spike into the unprotected part of the man sliding the spike into him and out. He dropped to the floor and Kelsier left him to his misery.

He moved once more towards Alex, he flipped the spike once more in his hand and raised it so it pointed down at Alex. Lin was started to moved her head and she lifted it to look at Kelsier. Kelsier turned to look around him, to see if anyone else wanted to challenge him. Doxtun was dragging Ragg away from him. Leisha was kneeling beside Mare who was unconscious. Mare!. _It's all your fault._ Kelsier shook his head half expecting Mare to get right back up, when she didn't he turned back to Alex, his arm still raised.

_Kill him! He wanted Mare so badly, he lied to you. Kill him!_

Someone shouted, Kelsier didn't know or care who. Alex tried speaking once more but once again his voice fell on deaf ears. He swung his spike down, _it's all your fault. _

_No!_

The word penetrated his haze, the fog that blinded him. It calmed the blood that pounded in his ears, the rage that filled him. No one had touched him, no one was close to him, no one was near him. The situation began to dawn on Kelsier, his actions, on the Kelsier that was still inside him, the man that had lived before the pits, the man who fought to keep control of himself. Kelsier looked at the spike that was impaled in the hard surface. The blood on it looked so familiar to him for a second before the feeling went. No one had gone to stop him, no one could have. Kelsier looked down at Alex, the spike in Kelsier's hand, the spike that Kelsier wielded, that no one had been able to stop. Was impaled in Alex's palette.

Kelsier pulled it free, noticing Alex staring at the spike. Kelsier looked at it in turn and then turned and began to walk out. He couldn't think straight he had to get out of here. He gripped the spike in his hand, he should just throw it aside. _Keep it, defend yourself. _Kelsier tucked the spike in between his torn garments.

"Kelsier!" Mare shouted behind him. _How was she awake? _She ran after him, he heard her footsteps behind him.

Kelsier stopped as she caught up. "You're dead to me Mare." He said coldly, there was no emotion in his voice. He walked on, through the ash. Most of himself felt relieved that he hadn't killed them, but a part of him, no matter how small wasn't.

"Don't leave me Kell." Mare said quietly, Kelsier walked on. To Mare this was just like the week she come, except a thousand times worse and it dwarfed everything the Lord Ruler had done.

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As always, let me know your thoughts on the chapter.


	7. Week 16: Losing It All

Sorry for the huge wait. I made changes to the rest of the chapters so they may be reflected in here and in later chapters. Lastly one of the memories has been changed. 03/29/2011

Let me know what you think.

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Week 16: Losing It All In One

"_Sometimes everything just disappears, or maybe at times you have to give it everything you've got, burning up all of your reserves at once in one final moment. Sometimes you have to make that choice, is it worth it to put everything you have into that one final moment, is it worth it to risk...losing everything." - Leisha_

_Kelsier looked down at Alex, his own hands gripped the pewter spike in his hands. It was cold to the touch, the dried blood on it was like a dark stain on his soul and his focus was clouded, his own thoughts blocked by a deep haze. However it was not Kelsier, he looked like Kelsier but the real Kelsier stood beside the fake Kelsier holding the spike. The real Kelsier watched the imposter raise the spike, he knew what was going to happen, and he watched the fake Kelsier drive the spike down towards Alex with a force pushed by some unimaginable power. Kelsier moved forward, his hand reaching out to grab the hand that held the spike, the touch of the fake Kelsier burned him._

_"I won't let you do this!" Kelsier shouted as he struggled. The fake Kelsier however was strong, he continued the decent however when the spike hit solid matter it was not Alex it embedded itself into but the palette behind him. Kelsier's own actions managed to shift the spike off to the side however he was about to pay the consequences. The fake Kelsier looked at Kelsier, his eyes burning through Kelsier's own being and with swift backhand Kelsier felt himself being flung from the tent, the force of the action knocked him far away, and Kelsier felt himself fall into oblivion._

Kelsier awoke, sweat beaded down his torso and his face. The cold wind drifted in through the small opening that lead from the tent to the outside hell. He was breathing hard, his lungs pumping oxygen in and carbon dioxide out at a rapid pace and Kelsier was having trouble stopping. It took time but Kelsier finally managed to get his breathing under control.

_What's wrong with me? _Kelsier asked himself. _It felt so real._ It had been six weeks since the last memory had struck but where Kelsier might have found some relief and rest in those six weeks, his life had sunk even farther down then it had already been. _How did this happen? _Kelsier looked at the tent he was in, it wasn't even the one he was supposed to be sleeping in. He knew he could never go back there, look at Alex or Mare, especially Mare and not feel regret. What was happening to him? What was wrong with him?

Kelsier rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands to rub his sore eyes, his left arm letting out a jolt of pain but like always Kelsier ignored it. He had become so used to the cuts and scars on his arms and the pain they inflicted on him that he just accepted it now. He just wished he could accept the past six weeks a lot more easily. Slowly Kelsier rose from his cot, and got up, the thin cover sliding right off him as he rose. His arms were covered in dark brown patches of clothing so he wouldn't have to look at them, he couldn't stand to look at them. Every time he looked at his arms he remembered the pain and so Kelsier never looked at them, not even when he was wrapping them up in fresh bandages. Kelsier couldn't remember the last time he had even looked at his left arm completely or even his right for that matter, all the bumps and bruises and cuts and scars were enough to make any trained soldier shudder.

Slowly Kelsier's fingers trailed down the side of the cot until they were underneath. Kelsier's fingers searched until he found what he was looking for. Kelsier's fingers wrapped themselves around the spike as he pulled it out, the only thing he had for protection. He took it with him everywhere he went, it was his only defense, and he'd had to use it more then once in the past six weeks. It was still stained with Alex's blood as we well as the blood of the others that had died by it.

He stood up, his legs aching from last night's excursion into the pits. He had been lucky he had found a geode or else he would have been dead. He was also lucky he always carried his spike with him. Those who were unfortunate enough to think they had a right to his geode fell quickly to the sharp metal which was as sharp now as it had been six weeks ago when he first found it underneath Alex's palette.

He walked forward towards the exit, sparing a glance at the empty cots that lined the inside of the tent. The palettes, or cots as everyone else called them, it surprised Kelsier that everyone called the makeshift beds different names. The tent belonged to Conrad and Raisor, the twins as well as they're original tent mates. One of them had died some time ago and Kelsier had taken the empty spot.

Kelsier approached the exit of the tent and braced himself for what was outside, waiting a moment or two before he left the safety of the tent.

It was a wasteland outside, a desolate harsh wasteland. The area where Kelsier had been before would have been seen as a paradise compared to this area. The dying lay in the ash, coughing, begging, praying…dying. The pits spanned a great distance, into the valleys that surrounded it and Kelsier, previously having lived at the entrance of the pits where he had entered, now resided in the valleys where, according to the rest of the population of the pits, the unworthy or unlucky lived. This was what the pits truly were.

It was getting cold out, the winter season had arrived and everyone dreaded the arrival of the snowfalls. The ash was hard enough to move through without the snow, and it was going to get much worse. Chained workers approached from one side and Kelsier saw the ash dusters, a simple name for a simple job that would get increasingly difficult. He always did wonder why no one was being drowned in ash and he learned why on his first day here. The ash dusters worked to make sure the ash didn't get to high and disrupt the workers, always working. They're legs were chained together with each of the other members of the group to prevent them from escaping and getting lost in the crowd. For good measure they were also branded with the ash dusters symbol on each of their legs and arms so they were never free.

He waited a few moments as he watched the scene before him. One of the ash dusters doubled over and began coughing up blood and the slave master, a strong looking man with one eye and a poleaxe dressed in the usual taskmaster outfit came up behind him and hit the man in the back of his head with the butt end of the poleaxe. _This will be you one day. _The voice in his head had grown stronger of the weeks, and Kelsier had begun to hear rumours of similar things happening to other prisoners. The curse of Hathsin they called it, once you were infected you would slowly go mad. Kelsier could accept the fact more easily that he was slowly going mad then any other explanation, it's simple and it makes sense. The ash duster on the ground got up, slowly rising to his feet. When he began to take to long to rise, the slave master used the butt end of his weapon to hit the joints of both legs so the man fell back to the ground once again. This time the slave didn't bother to rise and the slave master spun his weapon around and stabbed the sharp point of the poleaxe into the man's back. He died gratefully, not a curse left his blood dried lips. The slave master unhooked the dead slave from the rest of the group and moved on, leaving the dead corpse in the ash. It didn't take long for the creature to come and devour the body.

Kelsier finally left the tent heading towards the pits. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a man on the ground bleeding from a large head wound holding out a hand to Kelsier as he passed. "Please help…" The man begged. There was another man with him holding a large rock who took a quick look at Kelsier before resuming his attack at the fallen man.

_Help him! _It was his own voice, his true self. Kelsier felt himself briefly pause.

_You can't help him. The man has a rock and most likely a group of men who will come if he calls._ It was the voice of reason, and this Kelsier knew was true.

_Does it matter? _The brief pause was just that, a brief pause which was barely noticeable as Kelsier walked right by the injured man. He didn't look back as he heard the man cry out in pain, there was nothing he could do. That didn't help to stop the grim taste of guilt that flooded him as he made his choice.

Kelsier walked on towards his destination, a small tent where the food was distributed. He could already feel his hunger gnawing at his stomach and he quickened his pace, the line always grew. It never got shorter. He approached the tent and entered through the flaps into the dimly lit area. There were guards all along the inside of the sides with a task master throwing out scraps of food to the people who approached him at the head of the line. Kelsier took his place at the back of the long line and waited, fingers fingering the pewter spike hidden in his torn pants. Slowly the line moved forward and after what Kelsier could have easily guessed was a year he found himself at the front of the line. A scrap of meat and bread hit him and fell to the ground; Kelsier dived to grab them and caught them before they reached the ashen covered ground. Slowly Kelsier began to eat the tiny pieces, heading towards the exit of the tent as he went along. The food was scarce and wouldn't sustain anyone, it was just enough to get you through the journey into the pits, but only barely.

Leaving the tent Kelsier hurried towards the pits, he wanted to get through this day as fast as possible. He moved quickly dodging the other prisoners, ignoring them as they ignored him. They were prisoner's not social butterflies; they were here to work, to die. The pits weren't far away and in a few minutes Kelsier reached the area. He entered slowing his quick walk to a slower one, a more cautious one. His eyes darted from each prisoner keeping track of who was closer and who was farther away.

Kelsier moved on each step taking him closer and closer towards the cracks in the ground. As he drew closer Kelsier began to feel the familiar fear the pits radiated. One foot in front of the other, that's how it went. Kelsier kept moving ignoring the fear that rose inside him as he moved towards a waiting death. It wasn't long before Kelsier stood right on top of the pits, just staring down at them. They were there…waiting, Kelsier just kept staring down. Finally Kelsier moved to enter the pits, walking forward to the edge…and then sharp pain burst into head and the world around Kelsier began to shift as he fell forward, the jagged cracks of the openings to the pits rose towards him.

_It was freezing outside as they the small group approached Ruddeou's house. Leisha, and Ham walked at the sides with Kelsier and Mare in the middle. Kelsier walked confidently, his back straight and a smile on his face, but his eyes held the danger that coursed through his whole body. Mare walking beside him, her hood covered the top of her head and her eyes stared at the ash on the ground and the ash that drifted in the wind. Her one good hand lay resting on the belt knife Kelsier had given her in the last raid on House Venture where she broke her right arm once again because of Kelsier's recklessness. It was engraved with the house crest and Mare always had a hand on it. Ham wore his natural vest and trousers with a large broadsword hanging from his belt and Leisha walked beside Mare, one hand resting on her shoulder, softly speaking to Mare. They'd grown close in the short time they spent together, they were so alike. _

_Ham rested a hand on Kelsier's shoulder as they approached the doors to the small building, his eyes were focused over on Mare and Kelsier had an uneasy feeling of what lay ahead. "Maybe we shouldn't Kell." He said uncertain of the words he spoke. "Look at her," he didn't have to point out who he meant. "She's scared and none of us know why." _

_Kelsier shifted his gaze from the doors to Mare, he'd forgotten on the way here about how she felt. She was shaking, well not really shaking but more of a tense shudder. She was so tensed up, trying not to let her discomfort show but Kelsier could see it. He'd trained with her long enough to notice when she was uncomfortable. And when she was terrified. _

_Kelsier moved closer to Mare, grasping her arms that were wrapped across her chests and slowly pulled them out towards him. "It's okay Mare. I don't know why you won't tell us," Leisha shot him a look to be careful about his next words. "But we're here. Ham and I can keep you safe."_

_"And who will keep you guys safe?" Mare asked softly, her breaths could be seen in the cold air. "I just wish there was another way." _

_"So do I" Kelsier replied. "Damn it Trap, why did you have to get marked."_

_"Let's do this quickly then." Mare said, moving her right hand up to pull her hood down further so it would conceal the top half of her face, before moving her hand back to her belt knife. _

_Kelsier nodded and he walked up to the door and knocked twice in the different areas he had been told, one right above the door nob and another near the top of the door. Three knocks answered back and Kelsier replied with a knock to the side of the door and a kick to the bottom of it. Slowly he began to hear bolts being pulled back and locks being opened._

_"Do you mind if I stay out here?" Mare asked as they waited. Kelsier shook his head and motioned for Leisha too stay with her as the door opened. _

_The man who opened the door had a young scarred face as he looked upon Kelsier. He had dark dyed blue hair and his face was littered with cuts. He might have looked a bit decent if there was a spot on his face that wasn't covered in dirt, or a wound. His eyes were dark green and they shone with a mixture of awe…and fear as he looked upon Kelsier._

_"C. in sirr." He said hastily. He opened the door completely and stood back as Kelsier and Ham entered. When he saw that Mare and Leisha made no move to enter he shut the door. "This way sir." He spoke in a timid shy voice as he called for them to follow. _

_The interior of the building was as bland and dimly lit as it looked from the outside, plain walls, plain floor, plain everything. Slowly they made their way up the first set of stairs to the second doorway on the right. There their guide knocked three times before standing back. The man who opened this door had dyed dark red hair. He looked almost identical to the childish man in blue hair, except for the cuts and bruises they could have been twins. _

"_Soltek!" A sharp voice called. Ruddeou. "Who is it!" _

"_Caltek." Soltek the dark red haired man replied in a deep voice. "He's brought…people."_

"_What kind of people Soltek. This is not some complicated exercise for your slow witted brain." Ruddeneous replied sharply._

_Soltek and Caltek the two men at the doorway looked at Kelsier. He let a short breath before speaking up. "You were expecting me Ruddeou. It's Kelsier." _

_Soltek looked back into the room and after a brief moment he opened the door completely. Light from inside basked the hallway in light, heat flooded it and the interior of the room was completely decorated. There were cushioned chairs at least six of them surrounding a round wooden table with wine and glasses on it. One chair was occupied by Ruddeou, a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties. He had an unnatural shade of blondish yellow hair, and a clean shaven face. He wore a rich noblemen suit with the collar of the jacket up and his shirt hanging out. The chair beside him was taken by an older man with greying hair, a dark grey moustache and a duelling cane by his side. By his side stood a terrisman steward, fully erect in pristine condition. The last chair that was taken was by a female who looked to be in her early twenties. She wore a tight low cut dress that showed off much more then a neckline and emphasized much more then a tight body. Her tight trousers were as tight as the dress, appearing as if they were moulded onto her skin._

"_Please, call me Telniar." Ruddeou said proudly, and after a brief moment cast a quick glance at the terrisman who nodded once in acknowledgement before Ruddeou turned his attention back to Kelsier who had a puzzled look on his face. "It mean's Master of Thieves in some distant language." He explained._

"_In the Corsavian dialect sir." The terrisman added._

_Ruddeou waved a hand, dismissing the comment and ignoring the steward. "Sit Kelsier, I expected more then two of you." He said and Kelsier and Ham walked towards two of the empty chairs and sat. He looked briefly at the older man, "I believe you don't know young Kelsier here Astar. Not very well known, I'm sure you've never heard of any of his men."_

"_Sir?" Caltek's voice spoke from behind Kelsier. "There were two more people at the door who are still there."_

_Kelsier shot a quick glance at the boy hoping Ruddeou wouldn't bother with what Caltek had said. He was wrong._

"_Bring them in then." Ruddeou said quickly, focusing his eyes onto Kelsier. He had lost the smile that had been on his face and looked far more seriously at Kelsier. "Soltek!" He shouted. "Make sure they accept my hospitality." The faint sound of Soltek exiting the room was heard and there was a large pause in the air. The woman in the chair got up from her comfortable position and walked over to Ruddeou and sat on his lap, cuddling against him with a soft smile on her face. _

_A sharp slam was suddenly heard through the building and heavy footfalls sounded on the wooden floor in the corridor outside. They slowly got louder until finally the door knocked open and the group turned to see Soltek holding Leisha in one hand and Mare whose hood still covered her face in the other. He let out a grunt as he shoved them both into the room; Leisha stumbled forward but caught her footing before she fell. Mare on the other hand slipped and fell forward, hitting the ground on all fours. Caltek followed behind him and shut the door._

_Ruddeou caught one look at Leisha and looked at Kelsier. "I have heard of Leisha but have not had the chance of meeting her. I had heard she was a…stunning woman." Leisha brushed off some of the ash that was on her cloak and looked directly at Ruddeou who shifted his gaze back at her for a moment as if he was examining her. "Apparently they were wrong."_

_"Well Ruddeou, I had heard you were a pig. Sadly I think that's far too polite to call someone of your standard." Leisha retorted. _

_Ruddeou sprang to his feet, forgetting the woman on his lap who fell to the floor with a thump. "Insolent whore!" he shouted._

_Kelsier could almost feel Ham tense as he stood up to intervene. "That's enough." He said firmly. "I came here to find a good smoker but it seems this is all a waste of time. I didn't come here to listen to insults being tossed around."_

_"Well Kelsier, I'm not a good smoker. I'm the best smoker, and there are very few things that would make me consider helping you out." Ruddeou said after gaining control of his anger._

_Mare slowly rose from the ground and Leisha moved to help her, grasping one arm and helping her to stand. Mare shook her head before using her good arm to brush away a few strands of hair that clouded her vision, the movement brushed the top of her hood up making her face visible which also attracted Ruddeou's gaze. Kelsier traced the thieves gaze to Mare and held his breath as he looked between the two._

_There was a puzzled look as Ruddeou looked at Mare, as if trying to remember where he had seen her before. Then his face changed to one of complete outrage. His voice was barely under control, barely contained, the large trace of anger in his voice was clear for everyone to hear. "She'll do." He said._

_"She's not available." Kelsier said, as he stood up and walked between the two, blocking his line of sight to her._

_"That's not a very wise decision." Ruddeou said dangerously. He looked quickly at Soltek, "Pull!" he shouted and Kelsier felt a strong pull at his coin pouch and he moved his hands to grab it. He was too late as it was ripped free from his belt and shot towards in Soltek's direction along with many other metal objects._

_"Mare!" Ruddeou shouted. "I remember you clearly!"_

_"Mare?" The old man said suddenly and he looked over at her. "Mare?" _

_"Father?" Mare said frightened as she tried to get to the door. _

_Ruddeou advanced, walking towards Mare. Ham moved between the two of them, flexing his muscles. Kelsier stood beside the man but Ruddeou didn't stop. He just raised his hand once in the air, with two fingers pointed up. Then he ducked and a large iron pot shot from across the room and hit Kelsier square in the chest, dropping him to the floor. _

_Mare managed to reach the door, her hand pulled at the handle but it was locked. Arms grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground. She fell on her broken arm and she let out a short yelp as pain burst from her broken arm through her body. She rolled onto her back, fighting back the pain in her arm and the pain that in her mind as she saw Ruddeou cut Ham with a dagger and kick him between the legs. Ham went down to his knees and Ruddeou grabbed one of the wine bottles of the table and smashed it over Ham's head, before sticking him with the broken bottle as he fell. Not even pewter could revive him quickly after that._

_Ruddeou advanced upon Mare next, a dark evil grin on his face. His face was one Mare would never forget. He came upon her, grabbing her cloak and ripped it off her revealing the tunic and trousers she wore beneath it. He grabbed one her broken arm and pulled. Mare screamed in pain and with her good arm, pulled her belt knife free and plunged it into Ruddeou's arm. She wouldn't let it happen again. She wouldn't take the pain once more. She couldn't. Ruddeou released his grip on her arm, and she struggled to move, to get away. Crawling away from the man who had attacked her before, she backed away from him. Ruddeou pulled the knife in his arm free and flipped it in his hand so he held it properly. _

_"You! It's time I finished what I started. You got lucky last time you-"Ruddeou was cut off by Astar's arms wrapping around him from behind. Mare struggled to rise in the time her father was giving but it wasn't long. Ruddeou broke free of his grip and reversed the knife point in his hand so it was facing downwards instead of up and plunged it into Aston's stomach. The old man was forced to let go as he struggled to catch his breath. The blade was embedded deep into his body and the man collapsed onto the floor. _

_Kelsier struggled to rise, his body hurt from the impact. He coughed once, than twice, feeling something in his mouth he coughed once more, twisting over onto his front, he coughed against, and a red liquid spilled out of his mouth. Blood. _

_Mare tried the bolts on the door, trying to unlock the door. She had to get away. Ruddeou came from behind, she couldn't see him as he grabbed her from behind. She struggled once more, but for a moment he lost his grip. Mare elbowed him with her good arm and kicked his shin, before freeing herself. _

_"Soltek hold her!" Ruddeou shouted. Mare looked around to see Soltek beside her, his face knowing exactly what Ruddeou was going to do and he hesitated. Ruddeou saw the hesitation and moved over to where Caltek stood. Suddenly Mare could feel Soltek's arms around her as she was shoved to the floor. He moved down over her body and pinned her arms to the ground. Ruddeou smiled as he changed direction and began to walk towards her. To the side she could see Ham rise, he had finally recovered and he pulled the broken wine bottle free from his body and tossed it to the side. He saw her and moved towards her, limping. She just hoped he was fast enough to stop Ruddeou._

_She shut her eyes as she felt Ruddeou's hands tear at her clothes, her undergarments were exposed and she held her breath. She prayed to the Larsta, the religion she had always believed in the first moment she had learned of them. And then something happened._

_There was a roar, and Mare opened her eyes to see Soltek back off and Ruddeou grabbed by strong arms. He was tossed across the room, smashing into the far wall and collapsing onto the ground. He struggled to get up and Mare's saviour, who looked oddly like the terrisman steward grabbed the table in the middle of the room and threw it at the rising man. The table broke apart as it made impact and Ruddeou fell to the ground once more, not even bothering to try and get up. _

_The steward approached Mare, kneeling over her. His face was so recognizable; Mare couldn't believe she had even forgotten it. "Sazed?" she asked with a smile._

_"Now Mistress Mare, I believe you require some assistance." He spoke so professionally, as his arms wrapped gently around her body and lifted her._

_"Kelsier?" she asked softly as she felt a sudden tiredness come upon her._

_"Hurt badly, he need's medical assistance. However I can deal with this filth if you wish it." _

_"No." Mare replied weakly. "Kelsier need's help."_

_"Mistress," Sazed said, "It will not take long-"_

_ Leave him." She lost consciousness after that and Sazed nodded, looking towards Ham who had heard the exchange. He bent down and picked Kelsier up in his arms, and they both headed to the door. Soltek and Caltek stood in their way._

_"If you do not move, I will be forced to incapacitate you." Sazed said politely_

_They moved out of the way quickly and Sazed walked up to the door, took a deep breath and then kicked it. The door broke off its hinges and smashed into the opposite wall. Sazed and Ham left the room carrying Mare and Kelsier leaving Ruddeou alive._

_Kelsier fought to keep the pain from taking him but was losing he slowly he was losing consciousness. The last thought that came to mind was Mare choosing his life, over Ruddeou. Him, she choose him. She didn't risk his life for revenge. He was hers...And then he blacked out. _

Kelsier opened his eyes, complete darkness greeted him. He couldn't see anything. His head burned, his arms itched and his legs groaned. He tried to move an arm, an intense burning pain hit him and he gasped from the sudden fire that seemed to scorch his insides. It moved a fraction of an inch, but still it moved. He tried the other one next, it wouldn't budge. There was something pinning it in place. Kelsier could feel the weight of the world pulling at his head. He couldn't think straight, all the blood was in his head, it was as if he was…_oh no. _He felt a rock brake, something shift and he began to descend further down, headfirst into the darkness.

Kelsier tried desperately to stop, and he hit his head on an object, jarring his mind even further.

"Kelsier?" a voice said suddenly from the darkness. Kelsier felt himself stop and he looked around, for a short moment forgetting the fact that he couldn't see a thing.

"Who's there?" Kelsier called out. _Stupid move. You could have just drawn person who wants you dead towards you. _

"Hello?" Kelsier spoke again. His voice echoed through the enclosed place. He tried to rearrange himself so he was upright. There was a burning pain in his side that refused to go away.

_I'm hearing things. What's happening to me? I can't let this happen._

A part of the haze around his mind cleared and Kelsier fought on with his body, commanding his limbs to work, to help shift his body around and soon despite the untold pain his body inflicted upon him, Kelsier finally managed to reposition himself right side up.

"Kelsier?" A female voice called out. "Is that you?" The voice sounded familiar. So familiar. Why?

Kelsier felt a sudden panic seize him. It must be Mare, coming to kill him. He felt something at his side and his heart skipped a beat. _No! Mare wouldn't do it. She's better then me._ Suddenly what happened six years ago came back at him. _Lord Ruler, what did I do! _

"Kelsier." The voice called again, closer. So much closer.

"Who are you!" Kelsier shouted out. He was afraid, scared. Scared like he had never felt the fear before. Something was happening to him, and he couldn't fight it. He had to try, why did he feel like he didn't want to fight it?

"It is you." The voice said right beside Kelsier's ear. Kelsier's eyes shot open farther then they should be able to go. If he hadn't been trapped in a small air tight cavern he would have jumped and spun around but as it was, Kelsier settled for nearly fainting on the spot.

"Hello my son."

Kelsier felt something near his face. The voice… it couldn't be.

"Mom?" Kelsier said quietly.

"It's been sometime Kelsier." The voice replied.

"How? You're dead."

"Clearly I'm not." Kelsier's mom retorted. "Before you ask another question you should consider that you need a geode. Meaning the one that's right behind you."

Kelsier stifled his questions as he tried to shift around. His left arm let out a searing burn once more. Thankfully that was one thing Kelsier was used to. He felt the feeling of the crystal like flower patter beneath his fingers. He traced them to the center and took a breath, barely pausing as he shoved his arm through the hole. The pain was almost a welcome release to the other things he was feeling, as if it was the only sense of reality he was feeling at that moment. His hand found the geode at the end and he pulled it out, barely feeling the actual pain of the gashes.

"Now hurry!" Kelsier heard his mother say. "You have to get to the top, out of here before you run out of energy."

"What's the point?" Kelsier felt himself reply.

"If I wanted to hear my son give up so easily then I wouldn't have tried to protect you when they came for us." She snapped. "You are Kelsier, my son. You've never given up on anything before no matter what the circumstance. Don't start now."

Kelsier nodded to himself, and then slowly, using every force of will he had, he fought against what every instinct in his body told him to do. Where it told him to give up and quit, Kelsier fought on and never gave up. Where it told him to rest, for just a moment, Kelsier doubled his efforts. And finally when Kelsier felt his will was just about used up after the long trek up and no sight of the surface his mother spoke again.

"He wants you Kelsier. Just follow me, if I can do this, so can you."

Kelsier focused on her, trying to follow her. She was right, he was supposed to be stronger then her. But that was a lie; he had never been as strong as her.

"Just follow me Kell." Her voice was like a gentle soothing voice that helped Kelsier forget his troubles and focus on the task at hand.

They kept on, what seemed like hours upon hours, Kelsier couldn't tell. When he finally saw sunlight he almost collapsed from exhaustion. Only the sight of his mother kept him going, past the point where he was sure normal men would have died.

The opening loomed closer and closer, the tiredness Kelsier had pushed back so long ago was coming back even stronger. His eyes began to weigh heavier, and felt himself giving in.

"No! Kelsier listen to me!" The voice of his mother rung through the chasms. He could have sworn he saw her, ahead of him. She was looking back at him, her face was just as clear and soft as it was the day he had seen her stabbed by the obligators. "Don't you want to see me clearly?"

His heart began to beat faster and Kelsier fought again, pushing back the weariness. His eyes forced themselves open and Kelsier moved on, moving as fast as he could, knowing full well that this new found energy wouldn't last for very long. His arms made the climb, grasping rock after rock. His legs found the strength to push off the supports he found in the wall to help make his climb the slightest bit easier.

The light was shining in Kelsier's face, he was almost there. The tiredness overwhelmed him once more and Kelsier felt his right eye close shut, his left eye slowly closing beside it. _No, no, no, no! _Kelsier's mind screamed.

_It's not worth it._

The other voice was back and Kelsier's body agreed with it. Was it worth it after all, just to live another week and go through the whole exercise all over again?

"You are not a quitter!" His mother's voice rang into his ears. "You never were and you never will be!"

_I am not a quitter. _Kelsier right eye opened just a bit, a sliver, barely enough to see anything out of it. He lifted an arm, a tired sore and burning arm up, and it breached the dark cracks of the pits into the dying sunlight outside. He felt a rock break…_It's over then. _Another rock broke, both of the rocks were the supports his feet were standing on. Something gripped his arm as he fell down. Both hands were wrapped around his arm and Kelsier felt like screaming. His arm felt like it was being pulled out of the socket and Kelsier bit down on his lips to keep himself from screaming.

The holder of his arm pulled him upwards and soon the sunlight caught his face.

"A little help Kelsier." A male voice said, the noticeable strain in his voice was obvious. Probably the person who was helping Kelsier up right now.

Kelsier felt himself kick at the walls behind him and push himself upwards. The top half of his torso was not outside the pits. His eyes closed completely and Kelsier felt himself starting to drift back into the pits. The hands around his arm released his arm and gripped his chest to keep him from falling. The man must have already been tired because Kelsier kept on slipping.

"Kelsier, you have to live." That was his mother's voice and by instinct Kelsier felt one hand close around a rock that was protruding from the ground. It helped the man a great deal.

"Thank you." He said gratefully as he pulled Kelsier completely out of the pits.

"Mom-?" Kelsier said before something dark and familiar overtook him.

Kelsier awoke some time later to complete darkness. He could feel the rocks thrusting into his backside and the ash coating his skin but he couldn't see. It was almost as if he'd gone… Kelsier's hand sprang up towards his face the sharp familiar jolt of pain in his left arm greeted him as his fingers began feeling his face. He could feel cuts and scrapes decorating them and as he moved up he came upon his eyelids. Closed. Blood had hardened around and kept him from opening them.

"Kelsier?" A voice called. It belonged to a man. He couldn't remember whose voice it was.

"Kelsier!" The voice said louder. Kelsier let out a groan.

A sharp pain came next as something was torn off around his eyes.

"Lord Ruler!" Kelsier shouted as his left eye snapped open. Doxtun knelt beside him flicked away something from between his fingers.

"Hold still." He replied as he knelt down over him, his hands going towards Kelsier's right eye.

The pain came again but it wasn't as strong as Doxtun tore off the hardened blood around Kelsier's right eye. His eye opened as soon as it was free revealing a much more distinct appearance of Doxtun.

"Kell. You're insane." He said bluntly.

"I get that a lot." Kelsier replied almost as if nothing had changed between the two of them. It took less then a heartbeat for him to remember what he had done six weeks ago and Doxtun's face changed along with Kelsier's as he saw Kelsier remember.

"Lord Ruler no Kelsier. I'm not here-" Kelsier didn't let Doxtun finish as he struggled to get to his feet, staggering away from the man as he tried to keep his balance. There was a more noticeable pain coming from his left arm, far sharper and painful that it had been in the pass few weeks. Puzzled Kelsier looked down at his arms and gasped. They were uncovered and he was looking at them for the first time in almost a month. There were gashes, cuts, scars, scrapes layered upon layered over his skin. But it was his left arm that shocked him. In left arm protruding almost an inch from both ends was a metal shard impaled in his forearm. His eyes widened and he looked back at Doxtun, his right hand flew to his torn pants to the small pocket where his spike was hidden. It was still there and he drew the weapon.

"No Kelsier." Doxtun sounded a bit worried, even afraid as he could guess at what was going through Kelsier's mind.

_He should be. He did this. _

Kelsier felt himself raise his right hand, the spike called for blood. _No. I can't do it. _Before he could change his mind Kelsier turned and ran. He could hear Doxtun call for him but he didn't slow, lest he might go back.

It was an hour before Kelsier finally made it back to the tent, the sun was down and the mists slowly trailed along the ground. As Kelsier walked he could almost swear he saw the mist part before him, not in reverence but as if it was trying to get away from him. Then again he was exhausted, and his last near death experience had probably drained his mental abilities to the verge of collapsing.

The tent flaps were closed and so Kelsier pushed one aside and walked right in. He could barely see the interior of the tent, only three of the six cots were occupied from what he could tell. Raisor, Conrad, and another man Haden were on their cots, their conversation trailed off as they noticed Kelsier. A short ruffling noise from behind announced the presence of another prisoner, a woman by the name of Kiana, a tall medium length blond hair female with fair skin and dark jade eyes. She brushed past him ignoring him for the most part as she had done when he first took the open bunk that belonged to her best friend Haina. She walked straight up to Haden whispered in his ear and then went to her own bed and dropped like a sack of potatoes onto it as she tried to get some sleep.

"Castar is dead." Haden said in his naturally light tenor voice that had been corrupted by the pits. Conrad and Raisor bowed their heads for a moment before carrying on. They had become so used to death over the past few weeks that it no longer stunned them. Kelsier himself hadn't known the man for very long, only the man's name and the location of a tattoo he had acquired on an account of a dare. Before the pits that would have been enough for Kelsier, just a name. That was all that was needed to grieve for someone. Now with people dying everyday you were bound to learn the names of people who died the day after or even an hour later then when you had met them, you got used to the pain. Something Kelsier was finding to be an unpleasant feeling.

Kelsier moved on, going to his own cot and lying down. The tent had quieted and no one spoke, which prevented any distractions. Without distractions Kelsier's mind began to wander. He looked over at the twins, Raisor and Conrad. They were the two people who had offered Kelsier the cot to stay. They never mentioned why and Kelsier was always cautious around the two. His mind went from the twins to the metal shard in his arm and he looked down at it. The piece was still protruding from his arm; the dark silhouette of the piece was barely visible in the dark tent. He should probably try removing it.

His right hand grasped the small part of the shard that stuck out of his arm and after taking a deep breath in he pulled. A sharp pain unlike anything he had ever experienced before slammed into him with the impact of a pewter enhanced punch. It spread through his whole body, his mind screamed, so much pain. _Make it stop. Oh Lord Ruler what is this? _He felt his eyes roll back into his skull before everything ceased to exist.


	8. Week 22: Time Tells

Week 22: Time Tells

"I heard you can control time with metal. Do you think that is possible Kelsier?" - Caltek

Kelsier walked outside, back straight, confident. He let the door of the administrative building shut behind him as he left, walking down the steps with a relieved smile on his face. The sun was still up in the sky which made Kelsier even happier. It was still the first day in the week and already he had handed in his geode. His loose black shirt and breaches ruffled as the wind gently tugged at them, things were starting to get better for him. He continued along the long trek back towards the tent he now occupied to get the sleep he desperately craved. It had been too long since he had had a decent sleep and now he had the full week to do it.

As he walked he undid the makeshift bandages around his left arm, as he had done every week since he had discovered the small metal shard in his arm that Doxtun had embedded. A part of him didn't really believe that, but then a part of him believed he had actually seen his mother four weeks ago. He hadn't seen her since but he always pondered whether he actually was going insane. The skin had long since healed around the spike, he had not tried to remove the piece of metal since the day he had discovered it. After he was done he slowly began the task of rewrapping the bandages around his arm. He stopped to let a ash cleaning crew by before continuing on.

He consulted with his mental map first before continuing on. He had long since discovered that the prisoners had created a map of the pits. Where the administrative building was and the area around it where he used to live was known as the safe area. As you continued on into the pits and deeper into the valley you went by the dangerous section and then finally the harsh section. It was the harsh section where Kelsier's tent now lay.

He was just passing by the last tents in the safe section when a familiar voice stopped him. "It has been while Kelsier."

Kelsier glanced over to his right to see Lin sitting on the ground with her arms around her knees watching him. She had acquired a new scar on her forehead and a cut on her lip but other then that she looked the same as before. Kelsier glanced back at the route where he could see the dramatic change in scenery where the safe area ended and the dangerous area began. There were people on the ground begging for help just beyond the border having been beaten and searched for geodes as they came by.

Kelsier felt a sense of fear before looking back at Lin. "What are you doing here Lin?" he asked sharply.

"You were so much funner to be around Kelsier. So much nicer when you first came here." she said softly, just staring at him. "I liked you. You had this sense of...leadership. When I saw you I saw someone who could beat fear. Now I see a broken person."

"People change Lin." Kelsier replied. His eyes caught a shadow move from behind a row of tents in the dangerous section.

"I know that isn't true for you Kelsier. You didn't kill Alex. You hurt him but you didn't kill him. Doxtun always says that one action can't define someone."

"Get out of here Lin. Everyone has made there choice. Alex betrayed me-"

"He didn't!" Lin shouted.

Shadows were growing bigger, Kelsier just hoped they wouldn't cross the line. They should still be safe in the safe area.

"Lin, go away!" Kelsier retorted silently pleading she would run but she just sat there.

"I'm not leaving Kelsier. I know you better then you know yourself right now." She said.

The shadows grew into people, three males who began walking towards them. Kelsier's heart began to pound as he tried to think of how to get Lin to run anything that would make her leave.

"I caused you pain didn't I?" He said desperately. "Why are you here?"

"I don't hate you Kelsier." She replied. "I can't. I've spent my whole life hating people. I know you weren't trying to hurt anyone Kelsier."

_Let her stay. _He thought.

_No I can't let her. It's too dangerous._

He pondered for another second before speaking again. "Your wrong Lin. I meant to hurt you. If you don't run now I will kill you." There he had said it and no matter how disgusted he felt with himself for saying it he only had to wait for Lin's reaction.

She just stared at him, dead in the eyes.

"Kill me then Keliser." She replied.

Kelsier's eyes glanced over at the approaching figures, they had shifted in their direction toward Lin. They stared at her hungrily as they crossed the boundary.

Kelsier began to slowly back away.

_She ignored you. This is her fate._

Kelsier turned and slowly began to walk towards his tent again. He saw out of the corner of his eye the three men surround Lin. She just stared at him, her eyes trailing him.

"We'll be more then happy to kill you lady." One man said.

Kelsier's feet stopped unable to move forward anymore. He glanced back over his shoulder at the three men.

_Let them go. _

Lin looked directly at him. "Goodbye Kelsier." She mouthed and closed her eyes.

_No._

Kelsier turned around and headed directly towards the group, his right hand slipped behind his back grasping at the metal spike he kept in his back makeshift pocket. His heart began to beat faster thumping in his chest.

"I believe that honour is mine." Kelsier said, stopping behind the three men.

All three of them turned to face Kelsier. All three of them looked identical, long greasy hair, beards, bad breath and haggard disgusting faces. But they were all different sizes.

The one on the left spoke first. "I recall you threatened to kill this young lady."

The one in the middle was next. "Now back off and be glad we're to busy to deal with you."

Kelsier looked at all three of them and held their gaze. "I don't believe you heard me correctly. Let. Her. Go."

The sun was still high enough in the sky to glint off the metal spike in Kelsier's hand as he revealed his weapon.

"He's got a weapon." the one on the right said in a dull dumb tone.

"We can see that." The one in the middle replied. "Look, there is three of us and only one of you. I'm sure you can see that you are outnumbered. Now hand over the weapon and we'll let you go."

Kelsier shifted the spike in his hand before holding it out towards the "leader".

The middle one grinned as he reached out to take it. As their arms grew closer together, Kelsier suddenly brought his arm up and then down, bringing the spike down into the man's arm. He howled in pain as the spike pierced his skin and cried out as Kelsier ripped it free. The other two men took off in different directions leading the middle one alone, maimed and injured.

"You do not threaten my friends." Kelsier said gazing at the man who had just threatened to kill Lin.

"I'm sorry!" The man pleaded, his eyes wide in fear. "Please...I'll leave you alone."

Kelsier's left hand reached out and grabbed the man's hair, pulling him to his knees. He pulled his head back exposing his throat.

Soft fingers wrapped around his right hand. "Let him go Kelsier." Lin said softly in his ear. "This isn't you."

_Make sure he never threatens you again._

For once Kelsier felt himself instantly agree with the thought. He looked at the man, so he could see what he could do.

"Please...I don't want to die. I just want-"

"Oh shut up." Kelsier cut him off. "This is what is going to happen. You are going to tell everyone you know to leave me and everyone else alone as well. You are going to make sure this happens is that clear."

The man tried to nod furiously. Satisfied Kelsier released him and watched the man squirm away.

"Should I have killed him?" Kelsier said as he watched the man run.

"No." Lin replied after a short pause.

"I disagree. Goodbye Lin." Kelsier said and left her standing alone.

_"Are you sure about this Kelsier?"_

_ "I heard they have skaa slaves."_

_ "We'll be in and out before they know it."_

_ "Do we have a plan?"_

_ "Kelsier doesn't know what a plan is."_

_ "Doesn't know is an understatement."_

Kelsier shifted in his cot, eyes closed. His arms were throbbing as they were pressed against his head.

_"What if we went in through here?" _

_ "Are you crazy?"_

_ "Yes."_

A soft groan escaped his lips as Kelsier's memory tried to break through.

_"House Lekal is an easy target."_

_ "We have to be quite."_

_ "Why? All their guards are either drunk or asleep."_

_ "Kelsier!"_

_ "We both know if I die Kelsier, my wife is going to hunt you down."_

_ "Change of plans, we're sneaking in."_

Kelsier's eyes snapped open.

_A soft breeze. A quiet night. A party finishing in Castle Lekal where mostly everyone would either be drunk or occupied with other matters. Such a good night, a perfect night. For a heist. _

_ Kelsier smiled one of his special smiles that meant to those around him that either he was thinking of doing something stupid or in his case bold or he was thinking of getting the whole crew to do something stupid. Either way it wasn't one of the most sought after expressions that Kelsier expressed. _

_ Mare was standing beside him, watching the keep as she tied her hair into a ponytail. She wore a black shirt and trousers for this heist with a knife slipped into each of her boots. Ham lumbered up behind her wearing a similar attire with Leisha by his side. Behind them both was a man a few inches shorter then Kelsier. He had short dark blond hair the face belonging to a boy in his late teens. His eyes were a shade of brown, which seemed indifferent to the brown clothing he wore. His name was Redd, and while he had been recommended to Kelsier as a good smoker, his whole body language conveyed how nervous he was. Kelsier could hear the tiny chattering of the boy's teeth. He wasn't ready._

_ Kelsier waited for all of them to assemble before nodding to each of them in turn. They each knew their jobs. Mare and Lesiha would go for Lekal's main treasury. Redd, Ham and him would search the personal room of Lord and Lady Lekal for their hidden wealth which they had heard could contain atium._

_ Each one of the group nodded in turn but Kelsier noticed Redd's hand shaking. When Kelsier met Redd's eyes the boy turned away._

_ "Redd." Kelsier said._

_ "I can do this." He replied, his voice trembled a tiny bit._

_ "Redd." Kelsier said once again almost apologetically. _

_ "I can do this." Redd replied once more but his voice shook even more._

_ "This is your first time isn't it. You've covered others before but..." Kelsier let the sentence trail off._

_ "Please." Redd responded._

_ Kelsier could see that Redd was scared, and that alone could get him and the rest of them scared. But most importantly the advantage Redd could bring to the team wasn't worth his life, at least not on this heist._

_ "I'm sorry Redd but-" Kelsier said._

_ "No, no, no. I'm fine." Redd responded. "I'm fine." He said again trying to convince himself._

_ Mare saw the dilema and walked over beside the young boy. He flinched as she laid a hand on his shoulder, and he turned his face away. His blond hair shadowed his eyes but Kelsier could see him trying to hold back tears._

_ "Redd." She said. "We both know you're not ready."_

_ Redd didn't reply._

_ "And you know what would happen to me if you got hurt. I want you to come but I don't want you to get hurt. And if you come right now, I will be thinking about you the entire time and we both know that that isn't a good thing during something like this. We don't need you Redd, we can still get through this without you. Remember that your safety is important to us too."_

_ Mare waited for a few moments letting her words sink in. Redd took in a deep breath, and then let it out._

_ "I'll stay." He said softly. "I don't want you to get hurt."_

_ "Thank you." Mare replied._

_ Kelsier smiled, glad not for the first time that Mare was here. _

_ "Let's do this." He said._

Kelsier shook in his cot, images flashed in front of his eyes. The events of house Lekal, what happened, his heart was thumping in his chest as he relived the heist.

_The bedroom of lord and lady Lekal's lay in front of them. Kelsier and Ham stood right outside the doorway. There was a light on inside, the shadow of someone inside could be seen from the opening underneath the door. Voices conversed but Kelsier couldn't tell what they were saying. He looked over at Ham who nodded once, ready. He drew his sword and Kelsier knew by instinct that Ham was ready to burn pewter as well._

_ Kelsier pulled out a knife from the sheathe of his belt and with his left hand twisted the doorknob of the master chamber. The door swung open to reveal Lady Lekal sitting on her bed and someone else standing by her bed, most likely a servant or a slave. Lady Lekal was wearing a lush blue sapphire nightgown and had one earring in the shape of house Lekal's crest in her right ear. The one in her left was in her hand handing it to the servant dressed in white. He had a greying beard and looked to be in his middle years. _

_ They both turned towards the door as it opened. The servant saw Ham's sword and took a step back, his head swinging around to either side. Lady Lekal screamed. _

_ Kelsier rushed in leaving the two for Ham, he was here to look for the treasure. He searched the room quickly knowing the guards would be approaching soon. Ham held both of the prisoners at sword point, managing to silence lady Lekal by pointing the sword at her throat. _

_ Other then a few stashes of boxings and rings, bracelets and necklaces worth a fortune in itself which Kelsier quickly hid in the folds of his pants, and jacket, passing some to Ham for him to take, there was no sign of the atium. _

_ So he had been wrong about the atuim here too. Kelsier shook his head, his hand still searching the bottom of Lord Lekal's desk. It suddenly shifted as Kelsier pushed, which brought Kelsier back to reality and he noticed a cut in the shape of a small square underneath one of the desk's legs. He heard __in the background Ham say, "So does House Lekal have any guards?"_

_ Kelsier pulled back the carpet covering the square and underneath it was a safe with three different dials on it. This had to be where the atium was. Kelsier's heart began to pump a bit faster as his fingers brushed against the dials. There was a shout and Kelsier twisted his head in time to see the servant fall to the ground with a cut on his face, blood slowly covering his face.__ Kelsier looked towards the bed to find that Lady Lekal was gone. A moment later a large weight hit Kelsier and knocked him over, the arms of the person wrapping around him. Without thinking Kelsier grabbed his knife from his belt, and plunged it backwards into the being behind him. There was a soft feminine gasp before the arms weakened and Kelsier unwrapped the arms from around him. He turned to find Lady Lekal's staring at him his knife planted in her ribcage._

_ "Kelsier." Ham called and Kelsier looked over to Ham who gestured towards the door. In the doorway stood a man with short red hair. His eyes glanced from Kelsier to Lady Lekal and then to the servant and then back to Kelsier. He seemed to take it all in rather quickly. Kelsier glanced back over at the servant who was bleeding from the head now and was unconscious. There was a slight resemblance. Oh no. Kelsier realized._

_ Kelsier yanked his knife free of Lady Lekal's body, she groaned and Kelsier almost felt sorry that she would have to deal with the pain of her wound until she died. Almost. Then he looked at the man, each of them looking directly at each other. Kelsier sheathed his knife. The man just looked at Kelsier, his chest rapidly inflating and deflating. Ham broke the silence by ramming into the man from the side. The man was caught by surprise, his attention had been focused only on Kelsier. The man hit the wall and slumped to the ground and Kelsier took advantage and ran, chasing after Ham. He sped by the downed man and followed Ham, rushing away from the scene. Kelsier spared a glance backwards and almost didn't believe his eyes. The man was up all ready, he was supporting himself with the wall but he was standing after taking a hit from a thug._

_ Together the two theives ran along their predetermined route towards the escape route, behind them Kelsier could hear the man approching. It was odd that Kelsier couldn't hear any of the guards approching. _

_ Alarms began to ring throughout the keep and Kelsier cursed his luck, he had to question it. Lady Lekal must have been discovered by now either dead or dying. Kelsier followed close behind Ham, the thug broke down any door in his way saving them the time to manually open each and every door. They ran up a stairwell, this one exited onto the rooftops. The escape route consisted of each theif having their own rope set up that would help them get down the side of the castle where they could get to the rondevous where Sazed waited with the carriage. Ham made it to his rope first the strong man grabbed onto is and swung off the edge, Kelsier wasn't far behind. To his right Kelsier could see the outlines of two guards either asleep or dead. Behind him the man was still chasing them and Kelsier was torn between being impressed with him and cursing the man. Either way he knew that unless the man was dealt with he couldn't get away. _

_ As he ran Kelsier's hand went to his two knifes at his belt. He pulled them out, flipping them in his hand and in one fluid motion he put his weight on his right foot as it came down and slid, his right arm arching back before throwing the knife in his hand towards the man. The man twitched, his eyes widened briefly and he tried to move out of the way but he had not acted fast enough. The blade cut through his left cheek, leaving a bleeding gash that spanned a few inches across. Still the man kept on running, he didn't pause, all he did was smash his lips together to keep from screaming and press on. Kelsier had to admire the man's pain tolerance, but then he could be a thug which meant Kelsier wouldn't have such a colorful chance at surviving a close combat encounter. Although Kelsier constantly joked about being invinciable a few broken bones might be a loophole. The man was closing the distance, quickly Kelsier switched the knife in his left hand to his right and pulled back. Again he threw the knife with deadly accuracy, the man seeing the blade had a similiar reaction as the last time. His eyes widened, and then his right hand came up in an attempt to catch the knife. Kelsier almost had to look away as the blade pierced the center of the man's right hand, buried to the hilt. There were tears in the man's eyes and he stumbled which brought him in range of Kelsier's arms. As the man was busy dealing with the pain of the a knife in his hand Kelsier followed up with a quick strike with the palm of his hand against the hilt of the knife, remorse filled him as he lodging it further into the man's hand._

_ The man began to scream, falling to his knees, his hand bleeding furiously. Kelsier turned and ran, he could see the gaurds beginning to wake. He had to go now! _

_ Kelsier ran, grabbing hold of the rope that hung off the side of the castle he jumped over the side. He saw Mare's and Leisha's rope were gone and he breathed a slow sigh of relief. As he climbed down he was still haunted by the man's cries of pain and Kelsier shuddered as he tried to forget what he had just done._

Kelsier sat on his cot looking at his hands expecting them to hold some great mystery. He was alone in the tent except for Conrad and Raisor. They were each checking their scars from the previous night. Raisor was the only one who had found a geode so far out of the two of them, he was good at finding them. The twins never left each others side for long, going into the pits each day until both of them had found their weekly geode. It reminded Kelsier of him and Marsh, before they had split up. His brother's memory came with sadness which Kelsier hadn't been expecting. Time spent in the pits changes a person, but Kelsier had been unaware of how much he had changed. But he had to change to survive.

_It is a good thing that I changed to. I never would have lasted here if I had stayed the way I was. _

"That's a lie." Conrad said in the silence.

Kelsier looked up at Conrad, confused. The man was looking right at him.

"You would have done more then survived."

Then Kelsier realized he had spoken out loud.

"How can you be sure Conrad. I need to be hard, strong, and confident in what I am doing." Kelsier said.

"Hard, strong, confident, yes." Conrad replied. "But you do not have to be brutal, cruel, vicious, unforgiving."

"Brutal?" Kelsier asked.

"In a way." Conrad replied. "I've heard about things that happened while you were here. I heard that before you came here you always gave a person a chance. Now you're turning into one of the creatures that runs this place."

"I am still me." Kelsier said. "I am still the good old Kelsier, just better."

"The Kelsier that I used to idolize would never turn on a friend." Conrad said quietly.

Kelsier shook his head and stood up, walking towards the exit. It was then that he realized what Conrad had said. "Idolized?" Kelsier turned back to Conrad. Raisor silently looked at him.

"Me and Raisor. We thought you were the perfect skaa. We never told you why we actually came here did we, not that you would care anymore." Conrad said still in a quite tone.

"Conrad-" Kelsier began.

"It was because we decided that we wanted to be like you." Conrad said. "We thought that why can't we be like Kelsier the thief. He lives like a king in fact he probably is a king." Raisor started rubbing the scar along his throat. A lone tear slid down Conrad's right cheek from his eye. He sniffed once and wiped it off. He looked up at Kelsier dead in the eye and said. "Raisor defended you in front of our master. He said that all skaa are people. And then our master severed his windpipe."

Raisor wrapped an arm around his brother in an attempt to comfort him.

"We come here and see you and we thought that at least we can meet our hero." Conrad said after he a short while. "I don't see a hero in front of me anymore."

Kelsier turned back around and left the tent almost ashamed now of who he was becoming. He walked for a short while, moving between tents. Ahead he saw Lin with Alex, unaware that he had gone so far Kelsier turned into a line of tents trying to avoid them. He travelled a few rows before almost bumping into a tall bald woman. She stood at least half a head taller then Kelsier, arms and legs at least double the size of Kelsier's. He slowly began to back up as she stared at him and bumped into someone else. Kelsier turned around to find a man as tall as Kelsier blocking his exit. He wore no shirt and had scars trailing from his cheeks down towards his chest, spiralling into a circle and winding tighter as they reached his stomach. He had black hair that trailed long past the base of his neck.

"I always wanted to meet the man who made an enemy of Alex willingly." A voice said not coming from either of the two people. The man shifted to the side and Kelsier saw another male with blond hair approaching. His green eyes studied Kelsier just as Kelsier's own eyes traced the scar that went from the base of the man's neck up towards his chin and across his lips before ending right below his left eye. There was a small ring around the man's right index finger and a locket around his neck. "My own opinion would be that he was either very stupid, or...well just stupid. You would have to be insane to actually want to cross Alex."

"I tend to get called that a lot." Kelsier said, his own hand drifted towards the spike in his pocket.

"It took me a while to actually track you down, not knowing what you looked like. Who are you?" The man asked intrigued.

"I am Kelsier." Kelsier answered wearily.

"And I am Cain." Cain said bluntly all the sense of pleasure and curiosity disappeared his tone changing completley in that moment. "You are a threat Kelsier."

The back haired man stepped forward and placed a hand on Kelsier's left shoulder.

_Danger. _The word rang through Kelsier's being as if it was a shout in his ear. Kelsier reacted instantly pulling his spike free. His left hand grabbed hold of the man's own arm while Kelsier swiped towards his assailant's legs. The metal spike cut into the man's black pants drawing blood. The man fell to one knee as he released his hold on Kelsier who in turn let him go. Before he could continue a hand grabbed hold of his right arm and twisted. Kelsier felt a surge of pain course through his body as he continued to hold the spike.

Kelsier felt his arm pulled down towards the ground. A large booted foot rammed into his hand causing him to release his weapon. Before he could attempt to go for it again the boot kicked it away. A blow to Kelsier's back sent Kelsier sprawling into the ash on the ground. Slowly he turned over to see Cain looking directly at him.

"You know I wasn't going to attack you." He said. "Svekla." Kelsier felt a heavy boot fall on top of him keeping him pinned on the ground. He looked over at the owner, the female who had blocked his way originally.

"Funny way of showing it." Kelsier grunted.

"Cain!" Another voice rang out. This one deeper, one that Kelsier recognized instantly.

Cain looked over along with Kelsier. Kar was approaching, a fresh cut shone on his face and a there were a few tears in his shirt.

"He is mine." Kar said.

"No I don't believe he is." Cain replied.

The two people stared at each other, each of them unwilling to bend. Finally Kar spoke.

"I will give you Zasla." He said.

"Deal." Cain replied instantly. "Svekla grab Azazel." He looked back down at Kelsier, no hint of remorse in his eyes. "You proved me right Kelsier. A shame." Then he turned and left as if Kelsier no longer interested him.

The tall woman lifted her boot off of Kelsier and went over to the man who Kelsier had crippled temporarily. She bent down and picked him up in her arms before following Cain off, leaving him to Kar.

"It has been awhile Kelsier." Kar said approaching him. He knelt down in front of Kelsier's face and balled up one fist. With his other hand he grabbed hold of Kelsier shirt and yanked his head off the ground. Then Kar struck, one punch to the face, a second punch to the face, a third, fourth, fifth, it continued on, Kelsier's head was only cushioned by the ash on the ground as his head hit it after each punch. Punch after punch, Kelsier's could feel blood pouring over his face. His vision was growing hazy, he was so dizzy. It stopped for a brief momenta and for a second Kelsier thought it was over. Then he was hit once more, something was knocked loose in his mouth. Another punch to the face knocked Kelsier's mouth open allowing the object, a tooth to fly free along with a spurt of blood.

Kar released Kelsier and stood up. He grinned as Kelsier groaned. He lifted his boot up and brought it down on Kelsier's chest, Kelsier gasped from the impact the upper half of his body tried to lift off the ground as a result.

Kar raised his boot again but a shout stopped him from continuing. Kar looked over to the side and Kelsier tried to follow but he could only see Kar's hazy form. Then two other people stepped into his line of view, each of them carried a spear. Kar let out a snarl as he turned and left, leaving Kelsier alone with two guards in the ash. They seemed eager for a fight, young recruits. Skaa.

The guards took one look at Kelsier before turning around and abandoning him.

Kelsier struggled to rise, but he had no energy. He hurt everywhere, his lungs were on fire, his joints cried in agony, his muscles felt like they had been torn apart.

"Kelsier." Another voice said.

_What now? _Kelsier thought. His left arm began to burn once again, searing through his body.

"Kelsier its me." The voice said. A female voice.

"Mom?" Kelsier choked.

"I'm here Kelsier." she replied. "Now get up, you never were one to stay on the ground."

Kelsier eyes slowly began to focus and he tried rotating his head. He stopped when it began to hurt to much.

"I can't see you." He said.

"Come on Kelsier. You aren't finished yet."

Kelsier readjusted himself so he faced the direction of his mother's voice. Then he slowly began to crawl, looking around but not seeing her.

"Where are you?" He called."

"I'm here." She said and Kelsier hand's brushed up against something in the ash. His fingers folded around it and slowly slid it out of the ash. The metal spike that Cain's group had kicked away.

"Kelsier." Someone called for him.

"I have to go." He heard his mother say.

"No. I need you." But there was no answer.

He heard someone approaching but he was too weak to do anything about it. He just gripped hold of the spike in his hand tightly.

"Kelsier?" That was Lin's voice. "Kelsier!" He felt her hand move over his body, one hand stopping at his neck, checking for his pulse.

"Alex!" Lin shouted.

"No..." Kelsier tried to say but instead he coughed out blood.

Someone was approaching but Kelsier felt the darkness take him before anything else happened.


End file.
